Elephant electrocuted in Chhattisgarh

A wild elephant got electrocuted on Wednesday after coming in contact with a live wire at a farm in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district, an official said. The elephant came in contact with the wire and died of electrocution, he said. Farmers sometimes illegally lay the electric wires around their fields to prevent wild elephants from destroying their crops.

A wild elephant got electrocuted on Wednesday after coming in contact with a live wire at a farm in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district, an official said. The carcass of the tusker, aged around 30 years, was recovered from the farm in Medharmar village under Dharamjaigarh forest division, Divisional Forest Officer Manivasagan S said.

As per preliminary investigation, a farmer had allegedly laid an illegal electricity connection to operate a bore-well at his farm. The elephant came in contact with the wire and died of electrocution, he said. After getting information about the incident, forest officials rushed to the spot and shifted the carcass for postmortem, the official said.

A case has been registered and the farmer is being questioned, he added. With the latest fatality, nine elephants have died across the state due to various reasons in last four months.

Three of these jumbos died in Raigarh district. The thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, consisting of Surguja, Korba, Surajpur, Raigarh, Jashpur and Koriya districts, is known for human-animal conflicts.

The region has witnessed several killings of tribals as well as elephants and widespread damage to houses and crops by rogue pachyderms in the past. Farmers sometimes illegally lay the electric wires around their fields to prevent wild elephants from destroying their crops.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)