Chennai: An adult male elephant was found electrocuted in the Poochiyur forest range of Coimbatore Saturday — the fifth such death reported from Tamil Nadu in less than 20 days.
An electric pole was found lying on top of the tusker. According to forest officials, the elephant is suspected to have rubbed against a cement post that was used to support the electric pole. Such incidents, they said, were accidental and preventive measures will be put into place to protect the wildlife population.
“Elephants have a habit of scratching themselves on any object,” a forest official, who did not wish to be named, told the ThePrint, adding, “The cement pole had also fallen on top of the elephant.”
Supriya Sahu, Tamil Nadu additional chief secretary of environment, climate change & forests, tweeted Sunday: “With human-wildlife conflict increasing, we need to find short term and permanent solutions to electrocution. Strict action on violators, who put up illegal electrical fences, fences around electrical poles, raising the height of wires, insulation of wires etc., are imp.”
She added that district collectors and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) officials have been conducting door-to-door checks, while habitual offenders were being monitored.
We have been working with District Collectors and @TANGEDCO_Offcl officers to ensure that door to door checks are done, habitual offenders are monitored, revenue officers are involved in perumbulation and in finding out illegal connections. pic.twitter.com/mWIeqwZTH3
— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) March 26, 2023
Meanwhile, the Madras High Court in a 23 March order has summoned Principal Chief Conservator of Forests-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden Srinivas R. Reddy and Tangedco chairman Rajesh Lakhoni on 19 April to explain the recent electrocution of four elephants in Dharmapuri district.
The question of elephant-human conflict was also raised in Parliament on 20 March.
Last week, Congress MP Su. Thirunavukkarasar had raised a query in Lok Sabha on whether elephant-human conflict was on the rise in the country. Shared details on elephant deaths across India, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey had in his reply stated that in the last three years (since 2019), 198 elephants had died due to electrocution, 41 died in train accidents, 27 fell prey to poachers and eight died from poisoning.
In Tamil Nadu alone, there have been 29 deaths since 2019, he added.
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Elephant electrocution in 20 days
The 25 March incident came to light when residents of Poochiyur village found the elephant and alerted the electricity board and forest officials, who then reached the spot, and after preliminary investigation, arranged for the elephant’s postmortem.
On 18 March, a week prior to the Poochiyur incident, another male elephant came in contact with a high-tension wire in Dharmapuri when it was being chased away by forest department staff to stop it from entering a village, according to a Times of India report. The incident at Kelavalli village, which falls in Dharmapuri district, was caught on camera by villagers.
The video, which ThePrint has accessed, shows the male elephant trying to climb a piece of elevated land. Within seconds, the tusker comes in contact with a live wire and falls with all four legs sticking up in the air — dying on the spot.
In another incident in Dharmapuri on 7 March, three elephants were electrocuted in a field in Kali Kavundar Kottai village, where a farmer had illegally put up electric fencing to prevent wild boars from entering.
While the elephants died on the spot, two calves that were accompanying them were saved by forest officials. The farmer was arrested the same day.
In Erode district’s Anthiyur forest range, a female elephant and her calf were found dead by forest officials on 24 March. The cause of death in this case is yet to be ascertained.
According to forest officials, the autopsy of the two elephants was performed by a team led by S. Sadasivam, wildlife veterinarian of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, which also included Erode District Forest Officer N. Venkatesh Prabhu, K. Uthirasamy, Anthiyur Forest Range Officer, Thalakarai Tribal Village Forest Committee president Kannappan, and others.
Though officials could not ascertain the cause of death, samples have been taken from the elephants for further examination.
Speaking to ThePrint, forest officials said the cause of death could have been an accidental fall as the elephants were found near a steep slope.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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