Indian gaur gored to death in fight

COIMBATORE: In yet another loss to wildlife in the western region, an Indian gaur has been found dead in the reserve forest of Nellithurai near Karamadai.This is the fourth wildlife death in the region this month. While an elephant and an Indian gaur were killed in an accident on the Hasanur-Mysore Highway near the Sathyamangalam forest, another elephant was gored to death during a fight with a tusker.In the latest incident, locals had discovered the carcass of an Indian Gaur, a Schedule-1 animal, three kilometres from the peripheries of the Nellithurai forest.Confirming the death of the animal, Divisional Forest Officer V Thirunavukkarasu told Express that the gaur was four years old. “We performed an autopsy which revealed that the animal was killed during a fight with another gaur. The young gaur had rolled down a slope and died of suffocation.” Previously, locals had speculated that the gaur could have been hunted down for its meat. The forests in the outskirts of Coimbatore connecting the Eastern and Western Ghats serve as the traditional migratory corridors for elephants. Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed reports on Monday about the death of an elephant near Kallar on the Mettupalayam range. There were also rumours about a possible poaching attempt. However, the Divisional Forest Officer dismissed the reports.