A carcass of a 13-year-old female wild elephant was found inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) after she was shot dead, reports The Times of India.
The body was found at the Nalam Mile on the side of the Sultan Bathery – Pulpally road which cuts through the Kurichiad range of the sanctuary.
Sanctuary’s warden denied the possibility of it being a case of poaching.
“The elephant had a bullet wound in the left side of its head. The elephant could have been shot suspectedly by persons from inside a vehicle. The elephant was frequently sighted by motorists standing along the road side in the forest stretch. According to preliminary information, it is not a case of poaching. Also, no crop raiding incidents have been reported from the area recently. We suspect that a country made gun was used to kill the elephant. More details would be known only after the post mortem,” P Dhanesh Kumar, WWS warden told TOI.