A 10-year-old female elephant that got stuck in slush in the reserve forest near Anaikatti on Tuesday died of multiple complications in the early hours of Thursday.
An autopsy revealed that the animal had severe injury in chest cavity, presumably after falling on to the rocky portion of a stream that had a lot of slush.
It was on Wednesday evening Forest officials were alerted about the elephant’s plight, at a place around 11 km off Sembukkarai near Anaikatti. The pachyderm was first spotted by members of a tribal community who had taken cattle for grazing inside the forest on Tuesday. However, Forest officials were informed about the elephant on Wednesday evening.
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“It was dark by the time our team reached Sembukkarai on Wednesday. The team could not go into the forest as elephant movement is high in the area at night. The elephant was dead by the time the Forest team comprising veterinary surgeon N.S. Manoharan reached the spot by 7.15 a.m on Thursday,” said District Forest Officer S. Ramasubramanian.
Apparently hitting the slush head first, the elephant had aspirated certain amount of slush during the attempt to escape.
“The animal's thoracic cavity was severely injured when it slipped into the slush that clogged the rocky portion of the stream. There was also heavy presence of intestinal parasites. The elephant was stuck in near upside down position for long hours and exhausted during its attempt to escape,” said Dr. Manoharan.
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According to officials, the Forest team could reach the spot by travelling seven km from Sembukkarai in a vehicle and a four-km walk after that. The carcass of the elephant was pulled out using an excavator and buried inside the forest.