A male gaur was found dead under suspicious circumstances near a fence surrounding a private farm land in Missionary Hill in Udhagamandalam on Friday.
Forest Department officials said that the animal, aged around eight, was found dead by local residents. The fence near which the animal was found dead was erected by a farmer identified as Rajendran. He had raised crops on a portion of land that he had leased from the original landowner.
K. Saravanakumar, Assistant Conservator of Forests (Nilgiris division), visited the spot, and said that a postmortem was performed on the carcass based on the instructions of District Forest Officer D. Guruswamy.
He said that there was a suspicion that the animal could have died of electrocution, but said that only after further analysis of the animal’s internal organs could the department rule that to be the case. “The doctor also found a lot of plastic in the gaur’s stomach, which could have also resulted in the death,” said Mr. Saravanakumar. He added that there were also signs of electrocution along the animal’s skin. A case has been registered.
