Dead elephant in Coimbatore found pregnant during post-mortem
As the elephant suddenly collapsed, attempts were made to revive it by administering medicines stuffed inside fruits, fodder, and water
Plastics recovered during post-mortem of elephant carcass
COIMBATORE: A post-mortem carried out on Wednesday on the carcass of the female elephant that died despite treatment revealed the animal to be carrying a male fetus in Coimbatore.
The forest department was also startled to find plastic in its stomach. The elephant was carrying a 12-month-old male fetus.
Despite continuous treatment, the elephant, aged around 25 years, died on Tuesday. It was found motionless along with its calf near Marudamalai last Saturday.
As the elephant suddenly collapsed, attempts were made to revive it by administering medicines stuffed inside fruits, fodder, and water. The elephant was then lifted using a crane.
Also, two kumkis were deployed from Anaimalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) to keep away intruding wild elephants and prevent them from disturbing the treatment process.
Meanwhile, the calf, disturbed by the presence of kumkis and forest department staff, moved into the forest and joined another herd.
Even though the elephant began to show signs of improvement, it suddenly failed to respond to treatment and died on Tuesday. A post-mortem carried out on the carcass on Wednesday revealed that the elephant was pregnant.
“It’s difficult to identify pregnancy in a wild elephant. The elephant, too, has a long gestation period of 22 months, and so their pregnancy remains undetected until very late,” said a forest department official.
As plastics waste was recovered from the intestine of the elephant, officials suspect the elephant to have consumed them during its foray at the garbage dump along the forest fringes.
Meanwhile, Perianaickenpalayam Block Development Officer (BDO) Ramamurthy said that they have stopped the dumping of garbage in the yard near forest fringes at Somayampalayam.
“Talks are underway with the civic body to shift the garbage to Vellalore dump yard,” he said.
In 2022, masks, napkins, and plastic waste were found in the dung of wild elephants on the Marudamalai hills in Coimbatore.
In another incident, a wild tusker, aged around 12 years, was found dead in a decomposed state at Anthiyur forest area in Erode on Wednesday morning.
A post-mortem carried out by S Sadasivam, wildlife veterinarian at Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) revealed that the animal had died of lung infection. After extracting the two tusks, the carcass of the animal was left in the same spot as prey for other animals.