The 10-year-old makhna elephant (a male without tusks) that was critically injured in a road accident near Shoolagiri in Krishnagiri district died on Wednesday afternoon at the Theppakadu elephant camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in The Nilgiris.
The injured elephant had been shifted to Mudumalai for treatment on Tuesday. It fractured its right hind limb amidst other injuries in the early hours of Monday after being hit by a State Express Transport Corporation bus going from Kumbakonam to Bengaluru on the Krishnagiri-Hosur National Highway. “It suffered a cardiac arrest and died around 12.30 p.m.” MTR Field Director Srinivas R. Reddy said.
The jumbo was treated by a team of veterinarians from the Forest and Animal Husbandry Departments and the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. The animal was on intravenous support and was given medicines to relive it from pain.
Mr. Reddy told The Hindu that the accident not only fractured the right hind limb of the jumbo but also damaged its hip and lower part of the vertebral column. “Although these were external injuries, the impact had badly damaged its internal organs, which had caused the cardiac arrest,” he said and added that the animal developed many blood clots.
A senior veterinarian treating the elephant said that the animal’s condition had been deteriorating from the time it got hit as it could not get up on its legs. The treatment could only postpone the inevitable by over two days. Post-mortem was conducted by a team of eight veterinarians in the presence of top forest officials and representatives from NGOs.
The post-mortem proceedings were video recorded. Its vital organs such as kidneys, lung, liver, heart, and intestine would be sent for forensic testing.
