Wild elephant found dead near Coimbatore

Coimbatore: A female wild elephant, aged about 30, was found dead on a patta land near Pannimadai in the district on Tuesday morning.
A team of forest department staff found the carcass of the elephant when they were driving back a herd of wild elephants that strayed out of the Thadagam reserve forest. The team also rescued a calf that was isolated from its herd. The team is working to reunite the calf with its herd.
The forest department is also trying to ascertain if the dead female elephant belonged to the herd or the mother of the calf. They were also attempting to reunite the calf till midnight.
The carcass of the elephant was shifted onto a truck and transported to the Chinnamalai area reserve forest, where forest veterinary officers conducted a postmortem on Tuesday afternoon.
Dr A Sukumar, forest veterinary officer, Coimbatore forest division, said the elephant may have died around 1am on Tuesday. The elephant was in the position of frog sitting posture when it died, and there were no external injuries noticed.
Internal organ samples were taken for forensic laboratory analysis, microbiological examination, and histopathological examination to find out the cause of illness.
Meanwhile, the forest department in a statement said that a false mastotemporal gland discharge from a lactating female elephant is being falsely spread by some as a gunshot wound. The dead elephant was observed by members of the public, public representatives, NGOs, media, and officials before the post-mortem. Therefore, do not believe any speculation that is being spread before the conclusion, the statement said.