Poachers in Neruppur near Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district are believed to have killed an elephant for its tusks before setting the carcass on fire to destroy evidence.
The incident happened on March 1, 2025. It has raised serious concerns about the movement of poachers in the area, and about departmental lapses which allowed for such a blatant instance of hunting to take place along a crucial elephant corridor in Dharmapuri district.
As per a report filed by a Forest Department guard in the District Munsif-cum Judicial Magistrate Court in Pennagaram, he had stumbled onto the elephant carcass at around 6:15 a.m after investigating the smell of a burning carcass at the Bathanavaady Reserve Forest in Emanur Reserve Forest. The guard said he then rushed to the anti-poaching camp in Neruppur to inform his superior officers.
Notably, information as to whether the tusks or tushes of the elephant were removed or were absent at the scene of occurrence at the time of discovery are missing from the initial report.
Activists working in the region also highlighted that the Forest Department’s report to the magistrate does not specify the sex of the elephant was unable to be ascertained by them, and also other details of their investigation were not divulged to the court. They said details “such as the search for any bullets” were also not mentioned in the report that was submitted only on March 4, three days after the incident occurred.
The carcass of the sub-adult elephant, believed to be between 7 and 10 years of age, was found along the inter-state border where the River Cauvery flows dividing Tamil Nadu from Karnataka.
“The trunk was chopped, not the head. The trunk – the front of the head was chopped for the tusks,” said a source from the Forest Department. Asked if the elephant was shot and killed, the source said, “the carcass of the subadult was burnt, making it difficult for the metal detector to pick up any bullet residue in what was left of the carcass. We had to chop the carcass in parts to try and pick up any metal residue but were unable to do so.”
When contacted, K. Rajangam, District Forest Officer (Dharmapuri Forest Division), said three special teams are working alongside the police to trace the accused in the case. We have also sent samples from the postmortem to the Advanced Institute of Wildlife Conservation to ascertain the sex of the animal, said Mr. Rajangam. He added call records in and around five kilometers from the scene of occurrence are being checked to find out if any suspects were in the area during the time of the incident.
“This is a very serious incident which we are investigating, including whether the elephant was hunted for its tusks,” said the DFO. The Department was looking at reinforcing its surveillance network in the area, including setting up anti-poaching camps to prevent such instances from recurring.
Activists said the incident showed poaching still remains an addressable issue despite the High Court constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to monitor the investigation of wildlife poaching. Such incidents occurred due to the rise in demand for illegally procured wildlife products.
Shekhar Kumar Niraj, former Chief Wildlife Warden and former director of TRAFFIC (India), said it was not unusual for poachers to resort to burning carcasses of elephants. In the early 1990s, during the height of elephant poaching in India, there were many instances of elephant carcasses being burned by poachers, including in Masinagudi. There is need to strengthen intelligence networks with local communities in such landscapes for better information sharing between local residents and the forest department, he said.
Mr. Niraj added due to the increasing demand for elephant tusks and the illegal trade in wildlife, the forest department needed to evolve new strategies, combining on-ground intelligence gathering with new technology to minimise poaching.
When contacted, Rakesh Kumar Dogra, Chief Wildlife Warden, said information about the suspected poaching wasn’t immediately made public as the Department did not want to “vitiate” the investigative process and potentially tip-off the suspects.
Mr. Dogra said the department was conducting a thorough investigation and exploring all leads with the help of the district police to identify the accused.
Published - March 06, 2025 07:34 pm IST
