Wild elephant dies in forest near village

Tirupati: A wild elephant died of ill-health and age related problems near Settigunta village in Kodur mandal of Kadapa district on Wednesday night. As the village was near to reserve forest area, the local people saw the elephant's carcass only on Thursday morning. Upon receiving the information, the forest officials from Tirupati Circle rushed to the spot and inquired about the cause of the death. P V Chalapathi Rao, conservator of forests of Tirupati circle, T Chakrapani Divisional Forest Officer of Tirupati division, Krishnaiah Forest Range Officer (anti-poaching wing), veterinary doctor from SV Zoological Park Dr. Thoiba Sing and few others visited the spot and noted down the details. Speaking to The Hans India, T Chakrapani said that they had information with regard to the movements of elephants in the area since few days and particularly around Settigunta village. In fact, some local people complained to the officials two days ago about the damage to their mango crops by a herd of elephants. In this backdrop, they received the information about the death of an elephant on Thursday morning. Initially, they suspected that the death might be due to electrocution or poisonous food. But, they did not find any such doubtful objects or adulterated food near the spot. Dr Thoiba Sing and local veterinary doctor conducted post mortem at the spot and came to a conclusion that the deceased elephant was suffering from intestinal problem and found infection during post mortem. The age related factor was also one of the reasons for the death of the elephant, Chakrapani said. The officials buried the elephant's body at the spot and instructed the forest staff to monitor closely about the movements of the remaining elephants. It is noted that the forest officials have recently expressed their happiness on seeing a calf with a mother elephant near Balapalli, nearest point to the present death spot village Settigunta, and within a month, they have seen the death of an aged elephant. PV Chalapathi Rao said that due to good habitation in Seshachala forest, a herd of elephants were moving there and they had identified 29 elephants. Now with the death of the elephant, this number came down to 28.