The remains of a 10-year-old female elephant were found in the Mordhana Extension Reserve Forest (RF) at Aravatla village near Pernambut town in Vellore on Tamil Nadu – Andhra Pradesh border.
Forest officials said that it was during routine rounds in the forests, a forest team found carcasses including skeletons and hides of the animal near a stream in the forests. Immediately, the team alerted S. Raghupathy, forest range officer (Pernambut) and B. Ashok Kumar, District Forest Officer (DFO), Vellore.
Forest officials said that Aravatla region is a hilly area abutting Mordhana dam. The RF is around three away from Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary in Chittoor (A.P). Most of the elephants in the sanctuary navigate through forests in the region on the elephant corridor to reach forests in neighbouring Karnataka. The animals also camp in the region during mango season before they return to the sanctuary.
Based on alert, a team of veterinarians from Hosur led by Jayachandran conducted a postmortem. Initial inquiry found that the animal could have slipped from an elevated area to a nearby stream in search of water and got injured. Forest officials said the animal could have died at least one and half months ago. A portion of remains were taken as samples for further analysis by the veterinary team. Carcass was burnt at the spot in the presence of senior forest officials. A probe is underway.
Published – November 03, 2025 12:22 am IST
