Wild Elephant Wounded In Forehead Dies At Kodanad Rehabilitation Centre
Thrissur, Kerala: An injured wild tusker rescued from Athirappilly two days ago for treatment died on Friday in a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Kodanad. The tusker was tranquillized and transported in a specialized animal ambulance on February 19 to the rehabilitation centre after officials noticed the worsened wound on its forehead, which they had treated on January 24 when they located elephant with the injury earlier.
Two months ago, tusker was first spotted with a relatively minor wound on forehead near Vettilappara in the Athirappilly. After giving treatment, the tusker was released back to the forest.
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Since the infection was not healed, the wound worsened with a visible hole in the forehead. The forest officials on January 19 had tranquillized the elephant and taken back again for treatment. The doctors who inspected the tusker had forewarned that there was only a 30 per cent chance for survival.
While speaking about the elephant’s demise, Minister for Forest and Wildlife AK Saseendran said that they were hopeful over the relative improvement in treatment. More details would be gathered after the postmortem, Minister said and added that the kind of injuries would probably due to infighting among animals in the Parambikulam forest.
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The Minister also assured that they will look if any other factors have contributed to the injury the tusker suffered.
The wound is estimated to be around 30 cm deep in the forehead, and after the initial treatment the elephant had begun taking food. The elephant was given food along with vitamin supplements mixed with its food to aid recovery for the first two days. Netizens have expressed discontent over the delay in capturing the elephant as its wound appeared to worsen over time with infections.
