CPREEC - EIACP Programme Centre, Resource Partner on Ecological Heritage and Sacred Sites of India

Hosur (Krishnagiri): Bringing back horrors of the Veerappan reign,the carcass of an eight-year-old tusker was found in the Anchetty reserve forest in Krishnagiri district on Saturday morning,riddled with bullets and its tusks sliced off.Forest officials suspect that the elephant was shot dead by poachers from Karnataka a few days ago.

Forest bandit Veerappan had ruled over the Sathyamangalam forests in Erode district poaching several hundred elephants for their ivory.But after the slaying of Veerappan in 2004,there have been few instances of elephants being killed for their tusks.

We got a tip-off about the elephant death on Saturday morning and visited the spot, said Krishnagiri district forest officer A K Ulaganathan.The carcass was spotted at Yanai Vizhuntha Maduvu in Keratti forest in Anchetty.As it is located deep in the forest,our officials could reach the spot only on Saturday noon, the DFO said.The poachers had fired at the elephants forehead,killing it perhaps instantly.The poachers could be involved in poaching for many years.This is evident from the manner in which they have sliced off the tusks.It is a clean job, Ulaganathan said.
Based on preliminary investigations,forest officials believe that the poachers could have been from Karnataka.After forest brigand Veerappans death,there have been no poachers in our forest area.We believe the elephant could have been killed in Karnataka forests and disposed of in Tamil Nadu.Enquiry is on with villagers, said an officer.Later,forest veterinarians conducted the postmortem examination at the spot and buried the carcass in the forest area.

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