Elephant electrocuted in Bandipur (India)

Author(s)

R. Krishna Kumar, The Hindu

Date Published

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The scourge of man-elephant conflict has manifested again with a wild elephant being electrocuted at Haadanuru village in the Hediyala range of Bandipur National Park on Friday.

The tusker, which strayed from its habitat, approached an agricultural field and came in contact with an illegal electrical fence and died instantly. The honorary wildlife warden of Chamarajanagar Naveen Kumar, who was at the place, confirmed the incident to The Hindu and said prima facie the death was due to electrocution but would be confirmed by laboratory reports. This is the 5th elephant to have died of electrocution around Bandipur so far this year, said Mr. Kumar.

The agricultural field belonged to a farmer by name Rachaiah. The veterinarian Nagaraj, who conducted the post-mortem, said there were fences in the vicinity of the field and traces of injuries on the elephant.