Apart from foot injury, the animal was already carrying gore injuries in two places.
Injured elephant dies after a fall in Coimbatore forest division
According to sources, 20 wild elephants have died due to various reasons within the Coimbatore forest division, since January 2020.
COIMBATORE: An injured male elephant aged between 18 to 20 years was found dead at lower slopes of Nilgiris near Nellithurai reserve forest coming under the Mettupalayam forest range on Thursday evening.
The officials of Coimbatore forest division had already got an approval from Chief wildlife warden to tranqulise the animal for treating his foot injury and four members of veterinarians team were ready to tranqulise the animal.
However, the animal went deep inside the forest, 500 feet above from the sea level (atop of the hill). The animal was found dead on at around 5.30 pm on Thursday.
According to forest sources, the elephant had slipped into a slushy area due to continuous drizzling and got injured after falling down. Subsequently, the animal further slipped for about 15 feet from the site of its fall when he attempted to get up and later died.
Apart from foot injury, the animal was already carrying gore injuries in two places (abdomen and on shoulder) suspected to have been hit by another male elephant during a fight.
The forest department has planned to conduct postmortem on Friday.
According to sources, 20 wild elephants have died due to various reasons within the Coimbatore forest division, since January 2020.