A tusker that suffered a mouth injury after biting into a country-made bomb and a female elephant were found dead in two neighbouring forest ranges of the Coimbatore Forest Division on Sunday and Monday.
With the two deaths, the total number of wild elephants that died of various reasons in the division this year touched 20.
The male elephant, aged around nine, was found dead within the compound of the Central Training College (CTC) of the Central Reserve Police Force at Kurudampalayam, near Coimbatore, on Sunday evening.
Field staff of the Forest Department found the carcass within the CTC campus, around 700 metres away from the nearest forest boundary falling under the Periyanaickenpalayam forest range. The carcass was believed to be two days’ old.
Forest veterinary officer A. Sukumar conducted the post-mortem examination on the carcass on Monday and noticed an injury in its mouth, said officials with the Forest Department.
The elephant’s lip bone was found fractured. One of its molars was also found broken, besides having an injury on the palate with bone matter. Whole leaves and grasses were found in its intestine as the elephant could not masticate due to the mouth injury.
According to the department, the same tusker was found along with seven elephants in Thadagam north forest beat of the neighbouring Coimbatore forest range on November 29. Though the elephant appeared to be sick and weak, the staff could not approach the animal as it was roaming with a herd.
The next day, the elephant was found consuming tender feeds like banana stem. Though fruits stuffed with medicines were left at various places, where the elephant was expected to come, the animal did not come.
Though 25 staff from Coimbatore and Periyanaickenpalayam ranges searched for the elephant, they could not locate it.
This is the third elephant to have died of injury caused by country-made bombs, locally known as ‘avittukai’ in Coimbatore Forest Division this year. Previous incidents were reported in Karamadai range in March and in Coimbatore range in September.
In another incident, a female elephant, aged around 25, was found dead in a private land at Chinna Thadagam on Monday. The carcass was found around 150 metres off the boundary of a reserve forest falling under Thadagam north beat of Coimbatore forest range.
Dr. Sukumar performed the post-mortem examination on the carcass and opined that the elephant could have died of anaemia.
Samples of organs such as heart, liver, spleen and lungs were collected for histopathological examinations. Blood smear collected from the elephant would be examined to check if the animal has parasites in blood.
