Coimbatore: The carcass of a wild elephant that died of electrocution was excavated and buried at a faraway place by the forest department on Monday, after villagers in Gudalur raised the issue of heavy foul smell. The 20-year-old wild elephant, who was causing damage to the crop, felled a betel nut tree planted in a field at Machikoli in Devarasholai area. Unfortunately, the tree fell on the overhead power line a week ago, leading to its death by electrocution.
After post-mortem, the carcass of the animal was buried ignoring apprehensions of heavy putrid smell. Meanwhile, villagers of Machikoli threatened to protest as they could not bear the foul smell coming from the carcass, claiming that the carcass was not buried in deep soil. On receiving information from the town panchayat officials, forest department employees arrived and exhumed the carcass with the help of soil removal machines. The carcass was then loaded on a truck and buried in a deep pit faraway.