Injured, starved makna counting his last breath

Coimbatore: Forest department officials on Sunday expressed their inability to save a tuskless male elephant (makna) that suffered mouth injuries after reportedly biting a crude bomb placed by poachers.
The 40-year-old animal, nicknamed ‘Bulldozer’, is starving and is likely to die within a week, the officials said.
The ailing elephant used to frequent the Coimbatore range as well as the Mannarkkad division in Kerala. The Kerala forest department tranquillised it on August 17 to treat the wounds.
Three teams have been monitoring the elephant after it was spotted at Devarayapuram in Boluvampatti forest range here on August 27, district forest officer D Venkatesh said. “We placed fruits and rice flour mixed with medicines and the animal responded well initially. Meanwhile, it damaged seven small houses at Marudhamalai, Nanjundapuram, Varapalayam and Jambukandi Pirivu in search of food,” he said.
According to forest veterinarians, the makna is likely to die within seven days. “The elephant’s tongue has been severed and it is not able to eat or drink. We can to tranquillise it again as it is very weak,” said Venkatesh.
Bulldozer had raided the special task force (STF) temporary camp kitchen at Mangarai in search of food on Saturday, only to be chased away. From there, it left for Jambukandi Pirivu to damage a house. It was spotted at Thuvaipathi tribal settlement near Anaikatti on Sunday evening.