Following the controversy over the capture and shocking death of Madukkarai Maharaj, an 18-year-old tusker captured from the Madukkarai area, environmentalists close to the forest department have claimed that farmers in the area had planned to kill the animal.

In a discussion on the death of the animal, held in Coimbatore on Sunday by Osai, a Coimbatore-based NGO, environmentalists and forest department staff have clarified that the animal did not die of overdose as the drug used was safe.

While NGOs largely opposed the capture of the animal, it was revealed that some farmers, whose farms were frequently raided by the elephant, had plotted to kill it. However, since the forest department was pressurised by locals and farmers to capture the animal, it had no choice but to capture.

The forest department officials further added that the elephant was very likely to return to the same place even if it had been translocated to some other jungle since it had become a habitual crop raider.

“The animal had been chased more than 10 kilometres inside reserve forest with the help of a Kumki, but it returned to the same place, since it was attracted to the crops cultivated,” said D. Boominathan, Landscape Coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Dr. Shanmugha Sundaram, a retired Forest Veterinarian from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, claimed that the drugs used by the officials were the safest. “Xylazine and Ketamine combination would only drive the animal into a deep sleep and there are no chances of cardiac arrest since only a minimal dosage was given,” he said.

However, confusion prevailed in the hall as participants and panelists blamed the forest department officials for using the wrong method, which resulted in the death of the animal. Various claims were also made regarding lack of training of the staff involved in the capturing, and the cruelty meted out to the young elephant.