SIT attributes eight elephant deaths in Kerala river to ‘natural accidental causes’
A special investigation team has concluded that the deaths of eight elephants in a Kerala river last year were caused by natural accidental falls during flash floods. The report ruled out poaching and other human-related causes after finding no forensic evidence of foul play.
Why it matters
This finding provides closure to a high-profile wildlife death case and clarifies the impact of extreme weather events on local fauna.
Eight elephants, which were found dead in a river flowing through the Malayattoor and Vazhachal forests last year, died of “natural accidental causes,” a special investigation team (SIT) report has concluded.
The animals might have accidentally slipped into the river following extremely high rainfall and died due to the impacts of the fall, according to the report.
The SIT, headed by D.K. Vinod Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forest, High Range Circle, Kottayam, ruled out poaching as the cause of death as it could not find any evidence of forcible extraction of ivory based on socket examination—the examination of tooth sockets of the animals.
The team also conclusively ruled out alternative causes of death such as poaching, poisoning, infectious disease, or human–wildlife conflict “in the absence of any forensic, pathological, or toxicological indicators of anthropogenic involvement.”
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