Another elephant dies in Kerala after 5 days of injury

Thiruvananthapuram, June 09: Another elephant died on Monday in Kerala's Malappuram without responding to treatment by the forest department veterinarians.

The elephant was found seriously injured in North Nilambur forest range of the district.

The jumbo had been receiving treatment for its injures for the past five days, an official told ANI on the condition of anonymity.

"Locals in the region found the injured elephant and informed the forest officials. On inspection, wounds were found on the tusker. The injury marks suggested that it could have been caused during a fight with other elephants. He was treated after being tranquilised," the official added.

The carcass of the elephant was burnt by forest officials after conducting a post mortem.
Although a special team from Wayanad was also called in to provide special treatment to the injured male jumbo, it succumbed to its injuries.

It can be recalled that a pregnant elephant died in Malappuram after being fed a pineapple stuffed with crackers on June 26.

People across the nation expressed outrage through social media over the horrific incident.

Forest officials said the pregnant elephant died standing in river Velliyar after suffering an injury in its lower jaw. One man was arrested in this connection, Kerala Forest Minister K Raju said on June 5.

"The cracker explosion in her mouth was so powerful was that her tongue and mouth were badly injured. The elephant walked around in the village, in pain and in hunger. She was unable to eat anything because of her injuries", said a forest official.

The elephant was taken back inside the forest in a truck, where the forest officials cremated her.

According to the Forest Department data, this year a total of 50 elephants have died so far, among them, three died unnatural deaths and 47 natural death.

In 2019, as many as 120 elephants died, 10 unnatural and 110 natural deaths while in 2018, a total of 90 elephants died, 4 four of them were unnatural deaths and 86 natural death.