Dehydrated Elephant Dies of Heat Stroke in Karnataka

The elephant had come to the village in search of water but fell unconscious after it failed to find it all night.

On Thursday, Karnataka lost a male elephant to drought.

The elephant, aged about 15 years, was found lying unconscious in Deviramanadoddi village near Sathanur in Kanakapura taluk of Ramanagara district.

According to reports, the elephant had wandered off to the village possibly in search of water. The elephant was dehydrated, which led to its death on Thursday evening, hours after the elephant was found lying unconscious.

The Hindu reports that the elephant was severely dehydrated and died due to heat stroke and starvation. Speaking to The Times of India about the rescue operation, Range Forest Officer of Sangam range, K Shivaram said: “We got a call at about 7:15 am about this elephant having fainted in the village. Luckily, we were already on the field and I rushed with doctors to the spot by 7:45 am.”

The officials suspect that the elephant must have come to the village on Wednesday night in search of water, but fell unconscious after it failed to find water the whole night.

Although officials from Bannerghatta range were roped in to treat the elephant, it died even before the results of the blood tests arrived, TOI reports.

While they believe that dehydration is what caused the death of the elephant, forest officials are still awaiting post-mortem results to ascertain the exact cause of death.

While speaking to ToI, Shivaram said that the Forest Department had created ponds in Madivala, Bandegudu, Shivapuradoddi and Mugguru as early as October last year. However, he added that such ponds could not be created deep in the forests.

(This piece has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute)

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