A male wild elephant that was translocated by the Forest Department from a village near Thondamuthur to Manthirimattam in Manabololly forest range of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) was found dead on Wednesday.
A team, which had been monitoring the elephant with signals from the elephant’s radio collar, found the animal dead around 2.30 p.m. near a stream in Manambolly range.
The tusker, believed to have killed four people and regularly raided farm crops, was captured from Ichukkuzhi near Thondamuthur on October 17. It was lodged in a kraal at Varagaliar in ATR and released into the wild at Manthirimattam on November 12.
D. Venkatesh, Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of ATR, said the tusker had been grazing in the wild in a two-km-radius around the place of release for the past two weeks. It moved for a total distance of 17.50 km within the two km radius from the date of release. The tracking team was getting its location update every 30 minutes.
According to him, the release location is known for good natural fodder and water sources, where the elephant had been found grazing and mingling with other elephants. This was confirmed by the monitoring team stationed at Manthirimattam camp daily by directly observing the elephant and sending videos and reports.
The team monitored the elephant directly on Wednesday, too, based on the radio collar signal received at 11.45 a.m. Mr. Venkatesh said the team found the tusker moving towards a stream around 2 p.m. However, the elephant slipped in the drain-drenched slope and fell.
“Though the staff saw the elephant falling, they could not approach the animal due to the presence of a herd nearby. They approached the animal around 2.30 p.m. and found it dead. Due to unavailability of telephone networks, the staff had to travel for some distance to inform officers about its death,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Wildlife Warden constituted an independent fact-finding team headed by Assistant Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Venu Prasad, Director of Tamil Nadu Wildlife Crime Control Bureau V.C. Rahul and Forest Veterinary Officer K. Sridhar from Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Vandalur and directed them to inspect the site, monitoring records, GPS data of radio-collar and treatment history and find out reasons for death.
The post-mortem examination on the carcass will be performed by a team of veterinarians on Thursday.