Palakkad: The wild elephant, which has been damaging houses and properties in Sholayur area, has been spotted in a very critical condition here in the Palakkad Forest region, in Kerala.
The elephant, which was nicknamed ‘Bull Dozer’ by the local residents after it damaged more than 20 houses in Sholayur, has been found with wounds in its mouth. The injured elephant found to be in a very critical health condition was spotted in Keeripathi Forest range along the State border.
The elephant, which has been creating havoc in Sholayur Varagampadi areas and remaining a threat to the life and property of people here for the past many months, was not be seen for the past few days.
It has reached neat Thoova, near Aanakkatti along the border on Monday evening. The tribal people living in Thoova Ooru informed the Forest department personnel that the elephant has been found wounded. With many injuries in its mouth, the pachyderm has not been able to eat and seems very weak. The Forest authorities have started efforts to tranquilise the elephant and start medical treatment.
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It was named ‘Bull Dozer’ as it has been on a spree of destroying houses in the area. As the number of incidents of the ‘Bull Dozer’ attacking the property of the people living in the fringe area increased, the Forest department was planning to fix a radio collar to the jumbo to check the attacks. It was amidst all these that it went missing. The injuries sustained by the wild elephant seem to be mysterious and unnatural.
In recent times, 17 wild elephants have died in the Coimbatore Forest region.
