Sick pregnant elephant dies despite treatment

COIMBATORE: A critically ill pregnant elephant died without responding to treatment at Palacode in Dharmapuri.

Acting on information that a sick wild elephant, aged around 26 years was immobile in the Kesarkuli forest area on 18 April, a team of forest department staff led by Hosur forest division veterinarian A Prakash visited the spot and administered medicines to revive the animal. Despite treatment, the elephant died on Thursday.

A post-mortem was carried out and a dead fetus of a 12-month-old male was taken out of its body. A preliminary examination revealed that the elephant may have gone sick due to worm infestation, a disorder in the large intestine, and diarrhea. The carcass of the animal was left in the forest area to be consumed by scavengers.

In a further wildlife-related development, the Pollachi forest department officials are maintaining a close watch to prevent a makhna, which was translocated from Palacode in Dharmapuri from venturing out of the forest area into villages near Sethumadai near Pollachi.

The elephant was actually released in the forest area in Varagaliyar near Top Slip in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on 6 February, this year. As it trekked more than 100 kilometres to reach Coimbatore, the elephant was again captured and released at the Ulandy forest range after fixing a radio collar.

“Kumkis were deployed to prevent the elephant from straying out of the forest area. A radio collar fixed on the elephant has failed to emit signals,” said an official.