COIMBATORE: A 25-year-old female elephant that was being treated here died the other day due to hepatitis, revealed a post mortem carried out on Saturday. The elephant was found unwell at Lingapuram near the Sirumugai forest range a few days ago. It died on Friday evening despite two days of continuous treatment at a farming land close to the Odanthurai forest.
The postmortem was carried out by Coimbatore forest veterinary officer Sukumar and assistant veterinary surgeon Thiyagarajan in the presence of Sirumugai forest range officials.
The animal was unable to stand on its own. The forest department personnel took blood samples from the animal. The results showed that the animal’s organs were damaged and based on that veterinarians were providing treatment, said sources.
“During the postmortem, we have found that there was a lesion in the liver and kidney. The animal had hepatitis for close to a month; hence it was unable to consume fodder and remained weak. We will send samples of the organs to labs of either Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University or Namakkal Veterinary College and Research Institute to check what led to the hepatitis. It is not known it contracted the disease from water or chewing of plants or through air. We will get a clear picture after the results,” said an official.
The carcass was lifted from the farm and buried inside the forest. It was buried in such a way that other wild animals cannot scavenge the remains as they would have antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs that were given to the animal during treatment.
Three deaths in Coimbatore forest division consisting of seven forest range. Totally three elephants died since January 1 in two occurred in Sirumugai and one in Madukkarai.