Elephant, stuck in pit, dies

An elephant, believed to be less than eight-years-old, died after getting stuck in a sewage pit inside a private resort built along the notified elephant corridor in Bokkapuram on Thursday. Forest officials said that the elephant got stuck in the sewage pit at the 'Wild Inn Resort' in Bokkapuram, in the Singara Forest Range in the Nilgiris North Forest Division on late Wednesday night. Local residents said that they could hear the piercing screams of the young elephant more than 1 km away.

But the resort management failed to inform the forest department of the incident till Thursday morning, by which time the animal died. S.

Kanthan, Singara Forest Range Officer, said that the elephant got stuck into the sewage pit after a cement block used to cover it caved in when the animal stood over it. It managed to climb out but one of its hind legs got stuck inside. The incident has brought to focus the problems created by ‘illegal’ resorts on wildlife in the area. S.

Jayachandran, joint secretary of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement, said that only two resorts in the area had license to operate, and that the others, including the resort where the elephant died, was functioning without permission. “We expect strong action, including the arrest of the resort owners for their negligence in causing the death of the elephant,” he added. S.

Kalanidhi, District Forest Officer, Nilgiris North Division, said that a case has been registered. “We will act against the concerned persons once we have fixed culpability, and after the completion of a post-mortem examination of the elephant,” he said. Forest department staff spent an entire day trying to figure out how to extricate the carcass of the elephant from the sewage pit, and decided to use an earth mover to pull the carcass out..

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