Chamarajanagar: A female elephant was found dead in Hanoor Buffer Zone of Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Division in Kollegal taluk of Chamarajanagar district. Sources suspect that the pachyderm may have consumed murky/contaminated water and died.
This is not the first incident of suspicion cropping up over the reason for death of an animal. A young one of a bear had died recently in Bandipura area and it was suspected that contaminated water was the reason behind the death.
However, to zero in at a particular reason, the one-year-old elephant that was found dead has been forwarded for post mortem.
Summer has just arrived and the state of the life in the wild is miserable.
It is said that the animals in Bandipur area are shifting location in search of food and water and these animals are becoming easy prey to such factors leading to their death. The forest sources say that even smaller animals may be falling dead due to the same reason, but the cases may not be coming to light.
With the grasses going dry, the animals which live on green grass only are in pathetic state. Most of the water bodies in Bandipur too have dried leaving the animals struggling for water. The mushy lakes have turned into death pit for many animals which venture into the lake to drink water but find it difficult to walk back to the banks as they remain stuck in the silt. The forest sources say that if it does not rain in a month, then the condition in the forest will only go from bad to worse.
