One arrested for pregnant elephant’s death

nTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One man has been arrested and two have been detained for questioning by a joint investigating team of the police and forest departments in connection with the suspected killing of a pregnant elephant in Kerala’s Palakkad that has triggered widespread outrage in the state and outside.

The 15-year-old elephant died after chewing on a pineapple stuffed with crackers, according to initial reports, but the latest autopsy conducted on her found it was a coconut, and the injuries she suffered were at least two weeks old.

The arrested man, identified as P Wilson, is an employee of an estate that cultivates cash crops and spices on the fringes of the Silent Valley National Park, who told investigators that he prepared such snares to check cropraiding wild boars. Two people who Wilson said had ordered him to prepare such snares have been detained for questioning.

“More arrests will take place soon,” said Kerala’s forest minister. K Raju. Union environment minister Prakash Javedkar has announced another probe by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, which has begun investigation.

The elephant’s death came to light on May 27 when forest officer Mohan Krishnan wrote a

Facebook post after witnessing it. After biting the cracker-filled coconut, the elephant rushed to Velliyar river in the Silent Valley rain forest and stood there for days with her trunk and head immersed in the water to nurse her injuries. By the time she died, the animal had been enfeebled, perhaps because she was not able to consume food or water because of the oral injuries. Later, locals said the jumbo was around the river for more than a week.

The death of the elephant in Palakkad acquired a political and communal colour after some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders including Maneka Gandhi, an animal rights campaigner, commented on the incident. Maneka

Gandhi, inadvertently, said the animal had died in Malappuram, a Muslim-majority district she described as the most violent in the country.

“It is sad some people are venting their anger without verifying where it took place. It exposes their communal intention,” said P K Kunhalikuty, the Muslim League MP who represents Malappuram. Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also condemned “the move to communalise an unfortunate incident.” Wildlife activists said this was not first elephant death of its kind. In April, another female elephant died in south Kerala after she bit into a cracker-filled water melon.