Elephant Captured In Coimbatore Dies, Activists Allege Tranquiliser Overdose

Chennai: A 22-year-old wild elephant that was captured in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore on Sunday died yesterday evening, just two days after it was trans-located to the Anamalai Reserve Forest.

The elephant died while it was kept in captivity. Authorities say he did not take food ever since he was captured.

Activists say an overdose of tranquilisers could have killed him.

The Madras High Court has now ordered a post mortem by a team of veterinarians appointed by the Animal Welfare Board of India after the body sought an independent investigation into the elephant's death.

Dr Chinny Krishna, Vice President of Animal Welfare Board of India, said, "Our team of doctors would reach there soon and the post mortem would then be conducted."

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Popularly called Madukarai Maharaj, over the last two years, the elephant had killed three people and damaged crops straying into villages. There was widespread demand to chase him away.

Forest authorities had deployed three trained Khumki elephants to nab him. On Sunday he was tranquilised and moved to the Anamalai Reserve Forests.

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A senior forest officer, who did not want to be quoted, said, "The jumbo did not die due to overdose of tranquilisers. In that case he would have died immediately. Let's wait for the post mortem to identify the cause".