Guwahati: In a tragic incident at least three wild elephants, including two calves, who were hunting for food at a betel nut plantation in Assam's Kamrup district were electrocuted to death on Friday.. The incident occurred in the Panichanda area under the Rani forest range office.
Divisional Forest Officer of the Kamrup East division Rohini Saikia told reporters that a herd of wild elephants came to the area from a nearby jungle in search of food and three elephants came into contact with an electric wire.
“The female elephant along with two calves came to the garden and tried to pull a tree due to which the tree came in contact with the live wires leading to electrocution,” he said adding that they have contacted the APDCL and requested to put concealed wire wherever live wires are hanging in the elephant corridors. He regretted that there have been instances of similar incidents of electrocution in the past also.
Mr Saikia however clarified that the incident does not appear to be human-induced and looks like an accident. “The live wire was at a considerable height and fell only because the betel nut tree fell on it,” said Mr Saikia. Forest officials were conducting a post-mortem of the elephants.
Around 250 elephants have died over the last 10 years in Assam. The northeastern state had the second-highest population of wild elephants (5,719) in India after Karnataka as per a 2017 census. Electrocution, poisoning, and train accidents have been among the causes of elephant deaths in Assam. Farmers often use electric fences to protect their crops from elephants.
