A tusker that was hit by a train near Walayar on the Tamil Nadu – Kerala border early on Monday died without responding to treatment late on Wednesday.
The elephant, aged around 25, was under treatment at the Chadivayal elephant camp of the Forest Department from Tuesday morning. It had suffered multiple injuries after it was hit by the Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai Express around 1.30 a.m. on Monday. It was also dragged by the train for about 100 metres along the track.
According to Forest Department sources, its condition deteriorated on Wednesday evening and died around 10 p.m.
Female elephant found dead
Meanwhile, a female elephant was found dead in the Pethikuttai reserve forest area of Sirumugai forest range, Coimbatore Forest Division, on Tuesday evening.
The carcass was spotted by the field staff who went for a patrol at Mayilmokkai area of the reserve forest.
Forest Veterinary Officer A. Sukumar and assistant veterinary surgeon C. Thiyagarajan from Sirumugai, who performed the post-mortem on Wednesday, said the elephant could have died of acute anaemia of unknown origin and starvation resulting in cardiac failure.
Deaths so far
With this, the number of elephant deaths reported in the Coimbatore Forest Division this year increased to five. While a tusker was electrocuted in a farmland at Semmedu in Boluvampatti forest range on January 5, a female elephant was found dead at Pethikuttai on January 28.
On Monday, another female elephant was found dead at Kempanur.
Apart from these, a tusker was found dead at Kavarkal in Valparai forest range of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve on Monday.
