COIMBATORE: A female elephant died due to injuries suspected to have been caused during mating at the Manombolly forest range in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on Thursday.
Field-level staff noticed the animal standing in the middle of the river near the Manombolly forest rest house on Tuesday evening and tried to chase her away. But she remained in the same spot, body fully immersed in water.
A Sukumar, forest veterinary officer, and E Vijayaragavan, forest veterinary assistant surgeon, Pollachi, gave the animal fruits laced with medicines from Wednesday after noticing a lacerated wound on the right abdomen region. As the animal remained in the river, the officials tried to bring her out with the help of kumkis. First, they deployed kumki Swayambu to goad her to the river bank, but the efforts went in vain.
Later, a second kumki was engaged. However, the elephant did not budge and died hours later.
“We gave her antibiotics and pain relievers laced with fruits. However, the animal did not respond to the treatment and passed away around 4 pm on Thursday. We will conduct a postmortem examination tomorrow since it took us time to bring the carcass ashore,” an officer said.