Ailing elephant that was treated by Forest Department dies in MTR

Six-year-old male elephant found dead in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve due to parasitic worms, not lack of food.

A six-year-old male elephant that was found in a weak state in Masinagudi in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) a few days ago was found dead on Tuesday. The cause of death of the animal could have possibly been exacerbated by the lack of rain in the landscape, leading to the deterioration of health of an already weak animal, Forest Department officials said.

The elephant was found near a private area along the Masinagudi to Singara Road in the Singara forest range in a seriously weak condition. Forest veterinarians were called and fluids were administered intravenously, before the animal managed to get back onto its feet and went back into the forest.

According to officials, the animal had moved from Masinagudi to Singara where it had joined another herd of elephants, but on Monday evening, local residents noticed that the elephant had died in a private land in Singara forest range. A post-mortem examination on the carcass performed on Tuesday.

P.Arunkumar, Deputy Director of MTR (Buffer Zone), told The Hindu the animal was found to have parasitic worms in its stomach, which ultimately caused its death. Dispelling concerns that the high summer temperatures combined with a lack of green fodder in the forests had caused the animal’s death, Mr. Arunkumar said the parasites in the stomach of the animal had been built up over a number of years, and wasn’t due to a lack of food.

He, however, did state that the intense summer could have further weakened the animal, and contributed to its death. “Post-mortem examination on two of the more recent elephant deaths in the landscape, excluding Tuesday’s were on aged animals, whose teeth had been severely affected and the animals themselves were in a weak state,” said Mr. Arunkumar, who added that the deaths of such animals during the summer, though sad, were natural and were nothing to worry about.

Forest officials also said that such deaths every year played a crucial role in the delicate food cycle involving scavengers, including providing fodder for the extremely rare Striped hyenas and the three species of critically endangered vultures that populate the landscape.

The carcasses of the elephants, unless they posed a threat to other wildlife in the area, would be left as a food source for scavengers, officials added.