Tusks missing in elephant’s carcass, foresters rule out poaching

The DFO said that the elephant aged around 20 years could have died a fortnight ago and its body was found in a partially decomposed state. “It doesn’t look like an incident of poaching. The animal is believed to have died of natural reasons possibly due to infighting. Only a post mortem report will reveal the exact reason for its death. However, both the tusks were removed only after its death,” said Krishnagiri DFO. “A special team has been constituted to trace the culprits,” he added.

Mysterious death of elephants and incidents of poaching are nothing new to Denkanikottai forest as barely six months ago three tuskers were poached for their ivory. Officials, who were probing the killing of a single tusker, stumbled upon the fact that two other tuskers were also gunned down in a similar fashion in the same locality. After extracting the ivories, the carcass of the animals were buried inside deep forests.

Poaching has become a regular menace in Denkanikottai forests. Two tuskers were killed by poaching gangs in 2012 and 2013, while two elephants were killed in 2014. Last year, the forest department also busted a gang involved in ivory trade in the area.