Injured elephant ‘Bulldozer’ dies in Kerala forest

COIMBATORE: An injured makhna elephant -- that was being tracked and treated intermittently by forest department officials in Coimbatore and Kerala -- died on Wednesday morning.
The elephant was seen lying on the side of the Anaikatti- Sholayar Road in Kerala in the morning and died by 7am.
The elephant had suffered an injury on its tongue. “The cause of the tongue injury is not clear because a country bomb will affect at least one side of the elephant’s teeth and cheek, which is not there. It must be due to a fight or an infection,” said a forest department official.
A postmortem will be performed on the carcass by forest veterinarians from Coimbatore and Kerala.
Called “Bulldozer” the tusk-less male elephant was notorious for damaging houses. However, after its death, many people in Marappalam created a stone idol and paid floral tributes to it.