Elephant released into forest found dead

A tuskless bull elephant that was suspected to have injured itself by chewing on explosives was found dead in the Vettampara forest, Kothamangalam, on Saturday (June 27, 2026).

The elephant that had strayed into human habitation was radio-collared and released into the forest on Thursday (June 25, 2026). A Forest department team, which was tracking the movement of the animal, found it lying motionless in the forest on Saturday morning, according to sources.

Malayattoor Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Karthik P. said the cause of the death was yet to be known.

“The elephant had an injury in its mouth, and it was released into the forest after treatment. We had been observing its movements ever since it was released into the forest. It was observed that the elephant remained in the periphery of the forest. When the team went to track the animal, they found it motionless,” said Mr. Karthik. He added that a post-mortem was held.

Meanwhile, a complaint has been filed with the Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala, seeking an investigation into the death of the pachyderm. The complaint filed by Santhosh T.S. for ANEC Trust, Ernakulam, alleged that the animal was released into the wild, despite information that it had a mouth injury caused by a firecracker.

The elephant had strayed into residential areas in Kottapady and Pindimana grama panchayats in Kothamangalam, following which it was tranquilised, radio-collared, and released into the Vettampara forest.

The complainant pointed out that there was insufficient monitoring of the elephant after it was released into the forest, and that private elephant squads were utilised for the capture operation rather than the Forest department’s rapid response team.

“The operation was unnecessarily extended, and the elephant was tranquilised multiple times within a single day and chased around. The elephant was bound with ropes like a temple elephant, which caused further injuries to an already exhausted animal,” according to the complaint.

It further said that officials entered the forest for the post-mortem on Saturday after 5 p.m., violating the rule that post-mortem should not be conducted after sunset, and that no recognised NGOs with expertise in the area were present.