A week after suffering  pain, Arundhati, a female elephant, who was awarded with mercy killing, died on Tuesday night after her condition deteriorated at the Rajaji National Park in Haridwar.

The death was natural and no lethal injection was used, forest officials said.  The 75-year-old camp elephant, Arundhati, who has carried thousands of tourists on her back for jungle safaris, suffered multiple fractures after she got struck in a marsh in the park area.

Following the fracture, the elephant has remained incapacitated. Sensing Arundhati’s  agony, Rajaji Park authorities constituted a panel of three veterinary doctors. Once the panel approved the mercy killing, the  Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola put his seal of approval. But the mercy killing could not be realised in the absence of a drug required for it.

Initially environment groups led by People for Animals (PFA) were opposing the mercy killing but later they changed track and asked the park authorities to put the elephant to sleep immediately since the elephant was not getting any medical care.