Udhagamandalam:
A burning object, suspected to be an old tyre, was hurled on a wild elephant by an unidentified person after it strayed into a human habitat in Masinagudi in Nilgiris district, forest officials have said.
Releasing a video of the incident on Friday, the officials said the elephant with serious injuries on one of the ears died without responding to treatment a couple of days ago, sources in the forest department said.
One person was nabbed on suspicion and was being interrogated, the sources said.
The video showed the object in flames hurled from a building on the animal injuring its ear. The elephant fled trumpeting in pain, they said.
Later, it was found lying near a dam. The forest department veterinarians tried to revive it, but in vain.
A postmortem was done.
A provisional diagnosis suggested that the septic fistula filled with pus and severe loss of blood leading to acute anaemia, hypovolemia resulted in shock and death of the 50-year-old tusker, though the burns on the ear have not been the cause of death, they said.
