A wild elephant met with a tragic end on Tuesday after falling into an abandoned septic tank at Pothenchira, a village near the Vellikulangara forest range in Thrissur.
The pachyderm was found dead in the compound owned by Yohannan Panjikkaran in the morning. The front portion of its body, including the trunk and the forelimbs, were inside the tank. Only the rear part was visible.
According to local residents, wild elephants had been frequently straying into human habitations at Vellikulangara for the past few years. Three elephants had been camping in the area for the last two weeks, laying waste to crops and damaging rubber tress, coconut trees and plantains, they said, adding that the elephants entered the area after damaging the solar fence.
It is suspected that the old concrete slab of the septic tank must have collapsed when the elephant stepped on it. The forest authorities have taken steps to recover the carcass from the tank.
