In a piece of tragic news coming in from Kerala, a five-year-old elephant was found dead on Friday at Attapadi in Palakkad. This comes a month after a pregnant elephant’s death had sparked off outrage on social media.
As per the forest official, the elephant was unable to eat and had turned weak a day ago when the forest officials encountered it at Veetikkundu in Agali forest range. The animal died on Friday night. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Surendra Kumar suspects that the elephant might have eaten a cracker filled coconut or fruit. He said,
“There are three possibilities that could have led to the animal’s death. There were injuries in the elephant’s mouth and it could be due to the animal consuming cracker filled coconut or some fruit. It had a tumor in the stomach and was also suffering from pneumonia.”
Elephant May Have Come From Tamil Nadu
There is also a suspicion that the elephant may have strayed away from the neighboring Tamil Nadu forests because the forest officials had not spotted the elephant with any herds in the forest. The forests of Tamil Nadu are two or three kilometers away from where it was found. The autopsy of the animal was conducted on Saturday morning. The Chief Forest Veterinary Officer Dr. Arun Sakaria said,
“The animal had a fractured mandible, had a split tongue, and was suffering from pneumonia. It also had a tumor in the abdomen. We have collected the samples and sent them for forensic tests. Samples have been submitted for toxicology tests.”
Even though there are not any external injuries to the elephant, the doctors are not ruling out the possibility of the elephant consuming a cracker laden fruit or coconut that could have exploded in its mouth.
A month ago, on the 27th of May, a 15-year-old pregnant elephant was found dead in the silent valley forest after she consumed a fruit-filled with crackers that exploded in her mouth. This led to a massive uproar among animal activists and the social media users who called it a barbaric act. One person has been arrested for the incident.
Source: India Today
