Coimbatore : The carcass of an elephant, reportedly aged 13, was found in Coimbatore suburb of Periyanaickenpalayam in Tamil Nadu triggering speculation of being killed in conditions similar to that of Kerala's pregnant wild elephant.
According to reports, the tusker died 20 days back and foresh department officials are investigating the nature of death.
THe officials further stated that the complete picture will be revealed only after getting the post mortem report. A total of 8 elephants have been found dead in past three months in Coimbatore alone.
A 15-year-old wild elephant died last month in Kerala's Palakkad district and the post mortem revealed that she was pregnant with a two month old foetus.
It was noticed that the upper and lower jaw, tongue and teeth were blown away. Experts said that the elephant had eaten a pineapple filled with fire crackers.
Read: Wild elephant had major oral wounds; did not eat for nearly 2 weeks before drowning: Autopsy report
When this incident came to light, reports of a similar incident having taken place in Kollam district last month also surfaced and a probe has also been launched.
One of the Kerala's top elephant expert P.S.Esa, a member of various bodies including the Asian Elephant Specialist Group, had said that in his close to four-decade long official career attending to elephants, similar incidents like this have taken place about five times.
"There are two possibilities, one of which is the age old issue of man-animal conflict and this happens in areas where farming activities take place near the forests. Wild elephants do attack farms and take away products which they like and naturally the farmers react. At some places solar electric fences are erected. Another possibility is there are times when poaching takes place, but though one cannot rule that out, generally Kerala does not have many such cases," said Esa.
(With inputs from IANS)
