Villagers noticed the elephant lying dead in a farm land abutting Udedurgam reserve forest near Denkanikottai and informed the Forest Department. An official of the Forest Department said that the tusker was one among a pair that was camping in Udedurgam forest cover over the last few weeks..

“The elephant had ventured out of the forest to raid cultivable lands near Kavipuram village. On its way back, the elephant had collapsed due to reasons unknown. A probe is underway to know if the elephant had died of electrocution or after consuming poisonous seeds. The exact reason for its death will be known only on receiving the results of post mortem,” he said.

The tusker is aged 35 to 45 and did not show any visible signs of injury on its body. The carcass of the animal is likely to be buried in the same spot following a post mortem by the Forest Department.

The mysterious death of the elephant comes barely a fortnight after a farmer was arrested on November 4 for gunning down a female elephant that was raiding his farm land near Jawalagiri forest range in Krishnagiri district. It was initially suspected to have collapsed while attempting to cross over a trench.

More than 100 elephants have migrated from Karnataka and are camping in Thally in Tamil Nadu border. The Forest Department has already enhanced monitoring to prevent the migrating elephants from venturing into conflict prone zones such as Denkanikottai, Udedurgam and Sanamavu in the district.

In Krishnagiri district, 11 elephants have died in the last seven and a half months since April as against 13 elephants in the whole of last financial year from April 2019 to March 2020.