Two wild tuskers fought ferociously the entire night, and at dawn one was the victor and the other the vanquished.
The gory clash that took place in an estate at Siddapura in Kodagu district on Tuesday night put the people in the vicinity on edge until it was over.
Reason for attack
The elephants were part of a herd, but one of the males, suspected to be in musth, attacked another male for the attention of a receptive female. Forest officials are now tracking the elephant in musth as it left the battleground at dawn.
However, there are no plans to either tranquilise or trap the dominant male as such fights are natural in the wild, said Deputy Conservator of Forests Surya Sen.
Elephant dies
The night-long clash took a severe toll on the other elephant. It had deep gnashes on its body, which resulted in severe bleeding. After the fight it entered a water tank, but was unable to get out owing to its wounds, and it died around 10.30 a.m.
The post-mortem was conducted and the carcass was buried at the spot.
This incident is reminiscent of a similar fight two years ago, which broke out between two camp elephants at K. Gudi, in which Dasara elephant Srirama was gored to death by Gajendra, who was in musth.
