A 22-year-old female elephant was found dead in Anaikatti North Beat of the Segur forest range in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
P. Arunkumar, Deputy Director of MTR (buffer zone), said in a statement the carcass of the elephant was found during a routine patrol by the Forest Department staff on Wednesday. The advanced stage of decomposition of the carcass made it extremely difficult to identify the cause of death of the elephant. Samples of the animal’s internal organs were collected for forensic analysis and for storage in DNA repositories.