Four arrested for gunning down wild elephant in Dharmapuri

COIMBATORE: Four persons were arrested on Tuesday by the Forest Department for shooting down a wild elephant in Dharmapuri. A carcass of a makhna elephant was found by the frontline staff in the Pennagaram forest range during a routine perambulation exercise on July 1. Post mortem revealed that the animal was shot dead on its head. After investigations, the Forest Department officials arrested Shanmugam (37), Kamalesan alias Mariappan (44), Gunasekaran (43) and Sivakumar (27), all hailing from different neighbouring villages. They claimed to have shot dead the elephant in defence, when they intruded into the forest cover to poach wild animals for meat. The accused were produced before a court in Pennagaram and lodged in Dharmapuri sub jail. Meanwhile, a post mortem was performed on a tusker, sloth bear and a wild boar on Wednesday, which died of electrocution near Moopparkadu in Coonoor forest range. These animals were suspected to have died a few days ago and their bodies began to decay. In another incident, a wild elephant, aged around 30 years died after being trapped in a slush pool at Chennampatti forest range in Erode on Tuesday evening. The carcass was buried on Wednesday after a post mortem.