Missing elephant tusks found abandoned in forest

The Forest Department on Thursday recovered a pair of tusks which went missing from the skeleton of a wild elephant in Boluvampatti forest range of Coimbatore Forest Division recently.

According to the Forest Department, the tusks were found in thorny bushes, around 430 metres away from the place where the skeleton of a male elephant was found on Sunday.

The skeleton of a male elephant, aged between 25 and 28, was found in a reserve forest area of Ponndi south beat of Vellapathy section of Boluvampatty forest range.

The Forest Veterinary Officer who examined the carcass opined that the elephant could have died at least 45 days ago and the tusks were removed from the skeleton about two weeks after its death.

The department had formed five teams to trace the missing tusks.

According to District Forest Officer T.K. Ashok Kumar, the tusks were found inside the forest by one of the teams on Thursday noon.

The department will conduct a DNA analysis to confirm whether the tusks found in the forest belonged to the elephant, carcass of which was spotted on Sunday.

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