Severe injuries on the skull led to the death of the rogue elephant, which was translocated from the city to Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) in the district three days ago, a postmortem has revealed.
The postmortem, carried out by a four-member team, led by Thirukumaran, Assistant Director of Animal Husbandry, revealed that the pachyderm had serious head injuries and the skull was severely damaged, as it had attempted to break the specially made kraal, where it was kept, forest department sources said.
'Maharaj', which was creating menace for the last one year in Madukkarai and nearby areas on the outskirts, killing three persons, was tranquilised and taken to Varakaliyar camp at Top Slip in ATR three days back.
The elephant was put in a specially made wooden kraal and it remained aggressive and there was no signs of taming.
It had hit the wooden bars thrice and once its head was caught in between the wooden logs, which might have caused the injuries to the skull, the forest officials said, adding the viscera and other parts will be sent for further examination.
The two-and-half-hour long postmortem, was carried out in presence of representatives of various NGOs, animal lovers, senior officials of ATR and the process was also videographed.
The forest department has trained nearly 50 kumkis (trained and tamed elephants) and this was the first time a death was reported, during such process, sources said.
Environmentalists and wildlife activists had expressed doubts that over the dose of sedatives, particularly Ketamine, applied on the elephant, which could have been the reason for the death.
