Officials believe that the killing of the tusker was part of a suspected ivory trade, which remains banned and illegal across the country.
Representative image of a wild tusker.
Elephants, dead or alive, continue to make news in Kerala. This time, a tusker’s death and clandestine burial have given birth to suspicions that the ivory trade — banned across India — could be re-rearing its head in Kerala.
Forest Department officials managed to retrieve the carcass of the wild tusker killed and buried quietly inside an estate at Vazhakode near Wadakkanchery in the Thrissur district two days ago.
However, the prime suspect in the case is reportedly on the run. Officials said he might have escaped to Goa and was hiding there using his local connections.
The Forest Department officials also believe the killing of the 15-year-old tusker was part of ivory trading.
There are indications that old mafias involved in the ivory trade in Kerala might have regrouped, and this incident was a test for the process of resuming the illegal activity.
In the case of Kerala, the last time an elephant was killed for ivory was 30 years ago, after which a blanket ban on the ivory trade was put in place.
Kerala Forest Minister AK Saseendran told South First that estate owner Roy Mathew was absconding since the tusker’s carcass was retrieved.
However, four of his accomplices had been taken in custody with a portion of the elephant’s tusks and were being interrogated.
According to available information, the Forest Department has launched a massive hunt for the estate owner in Goa.
On Friday, 14 July, the forest officials exhumed the decomposed carcass — mainly skeleton pieces devoid of much flesh or skin — from the estate that cultivates rubber.
According to forest veterinarian Dr KG Asokan, a preliminary analysis indicated that the elephant was electrocuted more than a month ago.
Exhuming the body was initiated after Machad forest range officer Sreedevi Madhushoodhanan received a tip off.
The Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) of the central circle, KR Anoop, said that investigations established that a small piece of tusk seized from Pattimattom in Ernakulam on 1 July belonged to this elephant.
Forest officials said only a portion of the tusk had been cut and taken away, and the remaining was recovered from the carcass.
The Forest Department officials suspect that the farmer and his associates might have laid an electric trap to catch the elephant, which might have landed in the estate for crop-raiding.
On finding the tusker trapped, the team might have started probing options for the ivory trade. According to Asokan, no indications of a bullet injury were found on the elephant.
A machete used to cut the elephant’s tusk was among the material evidence collected by the officials with the help of captured persons at the place where the elephant was buried.
The accused disclosed that acid or other chemicals were not used for this purpose.
According to the forest officials, it was the first time a farmer electrocuted an elephant, whose carcass was clandestinely buried in Kerala.
The elephant carcass was found in the plantation during an investigation conducted by the Forest Department after receiving a complaint from the NGO Save Our Wildlife that a wild tusker seen in the region had gone missing.
(With inputs from PTI)
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