Another wild elephant dies from mouth injuries in Kerala

A wild elephant, found with injuries in its mouth, died at Attapadi in Palakkad on Wednesday morning, forest officials said.

The tuskless male elephant (Makna), believed to be between 25-30 years, had been treated by forest officials last month after tranquilizing it on finding it weak, unable to eat or drink due to the injuries. Efforts had been made to put a tracking collar on the jumbo, but it left the area before that, the officials said.

The elephant had injuries in its mouth, its tongue was split.But there were no injuries on its jaw, they told PTI.

Forest officials said it was not clear how the animal, nicknamed 'bulldozer' by local people as it had destroyed 17 houses in the state and eight in the Coimbatore division of Tamil Nadu, suffered the wounds.

"It used to destroy houses and break windows to get rice and other food articles. We got information that the animal was getting weak and had crossed to Kerala two days ago," they said.

The animal was found dead in the Attapadi forests this morning.

It was in May this year that a pregnant wild elephant had died after she consumed a cracker-filled fruit in Silent valley forests.

The incident had sparked widespread outrage.

In Agali forests, a five-year-old elephant had died in July following injuries due to fractured jaw.