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A lactating elephant aged around 20 years was killed after she slipped from an elevation and fell on a flat land in a private estate in Kogarahalli village in Sakleshpur taluk. The location is around 35 km from Hassan.
M L Manjunath, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Hassan, told DH that the animal died at around 2.30 pm on Monday. “She fell on Sunday morning and after that she was unable to get up. The department tried all means to make her stand. We administered 20 bottles of glucose and five bottles of calcium, but all in vain.
Dr Umashankar, veterinarian from Mysuru, too administered medical treatment, but she did not respond to it,” he said.
The post-mortem reports revealed that she had swelling and infection in her intestines. She was a lactating mother. Since her breasts were swollen and were full of milk, her calf would not be more than three months old, the report mentioned. The staff are now hoping that the calf will survive and find a lactating foster mother.
She had strayed out of the forest patch into the estate to feed on jackfruit and mangoes, where she slipped.
The undulated terrain in the region has become all the more dangerous because of the downpour in the area over the last one week, Manjunath said.
A K Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests, Hassan, said elephants slipping and falling in the undulated terrain has become common in the region. There are many instances where elephants injure themselves. Elephants stray out of forest patches in search of food. This is the reason why elephant movement is very high in this region.
30 jumbos sighted
In 2012, Sakleshpur had hogged limelight due to the heightened man-elephant conflict in the region. In 2014, the Forest department had captured 12 tuskers and 10 females and now in just three years the vacuum has been filled. The forest staff and volunteers counted 30 elephants during the recent elephant census. From July to December, the department has also recorded the birth of four calves in this region.
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