Chennai, Nov 27 (PTI) A three-member team has been constituted to study the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two elephants that were released back into the forest from captivity, Rakesh Kumar Dogra, Chief Wildlife Warden of Tamil Nadu, said on Thursday.
Preliminary investigations reveal both died in similar circumstances — they had a fall from a considerable height.
The latest elephant to die is Rolex. He fell and died on November 25, Dogra said.
Rolex was a 40-year-old wild tusker from the Coimbatore belt in Tamil Nadu, notorious for repeated crop raids and three human deaths. He was tranquillised, captured, kept in a kraal and then released deep inside the Anamalai Tiger Reserve a few weeks ago said the chief wildlife warden.
“We have been tracking him, he had settled well, found another elephant to keep company. It may be a coincidental fall, but we wanted to rule out possibilities, so the three-member committee is formed to look into this,” Dogra told PTI.
The other relocated, 30-year-old, ‘conflict’ elephant, named Radhakrishnan, also fell and died due multiple skull fractures, said forest department sources.
The elephant was captured in Ouchterlony Valley in Gudalur, Nilgiris and was relocated to Kothayar in Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) in Tirunelveli district.
While Rolex was captured on October 17 and relocated in the first week of November, Radhakrishnan was captured on September 25, released back towards the end of October and died on November 18, said forest department sources.
The team will be led by D Venkatesh, Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director, Anaimalai Tiger Reserve and will include a veterinarian from Vandalur Zoo, said Dogra.
“Preliminary report will be here in a couple of days, but the detailed study of the circumstances will take at least a month,” added Dogra. PTI JR ADB
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