Elephant gunned down, another found dead

Coimbatore: Two female elephants were found dead in the Mettupalayam and Sirumugai forest ranges on Thursday. While one of them was shot dead, the cause of the other elephant’s death was yet to be ascertained.
D Venkatesh, district forest officer (DFO), Coimbatore forest division, said the carcass of the elephant that was found in an agricultural field near Thekkampatti in Mettupalayam had a small wound near the left ear. The elephant, he said, was aged between 18 years and 20 years.
The officer said, “During postmortem, veterinarians opened the animal’s skull and recovered a bullet that had penetrated its brain. The bullet had left a deep hole till the brain. Two people have been arrested in connection with the incident after they confessed to the crime.”
Another officer identified the arrested as K Ramasamy, 63, and his brother K Krishnasamy, 55, of Thekkampatti. Forest officials have seized a country made gun from them. The duo told the officials that they had taken the land on lease from the Public Works Department and cultivated green fodders for cattle and maize. The elephant, they said, used to raid the crops often, forcing them to shoot the animal dead.
The DFO, along with other forest officials, visited the spot. Autopsy was carried out by a three-member team that was led by forest department veterinary doctor Sugumar.
Another female elephant was found dead inside the reserve forest at Lingapuram in the Sirumugai forest range. According to a source, the carcass of the elephant was spotted by a team of Sirumugai forest range officials, who were on patrol. The animal was aged around 20 years. The team immediately alerted the DFO. “The cause of the animal’s death could only be ascertained after postmortem,” the source said.
A tusker aged around 10 years is, meanwhile, battling for life at Pethikuttai beat of Sirumugai forest range. The elephant with an injured leg was spotted on Sunday afternoon. Veterinary doctors have been trying to revive the tusker since then.
According to the forest department officials, 14 elephants had died in the Coimbatore forest division since January. Half of them were found dead in the Sirumugai forest range.
Pointing out that the Coimbatore forest division had reported 141 elephant deaths since 2011, another source said officials had been preparing a detailed report on the same.
“At least 141 elephants have died in the Coimbatore forest division that comprises Boluvampatti, Madukkarai, Coimbatore, Periyanaickenpalayam, Karamadai, Mettupalayam and Sirumugai forest ranges since 2011.While 118 of them died naturally, six were poached. Several elephants have also died of electrocution,” the source said.
The Coimbatore forest division, the source said, was a migratory route of wild elephants. “We see only migratory elephants. We are collecting postmortem reports of all the 141 elephants to find out the real cause of elephant deaths in the division.”