Illegal power lines kill three elephants in 24 hrs in west TN

COIMBATORE: Illegal power lines snuffed the lives of three elephants in Erode and Krishnagiri districts in a little over 24 hours.

In Erode, a lone female elephant that ventured out of the Thalavady forest area and entered a five-acre maize field owned by brothers Madevasamy and Nandisha near Ikkalur village was electrocuted after coming in contact with an illegal electric fence erected around the farm. It died early on Sunday morning. A team of Forest officials took both the brothers and as well as a neighbouring farm owner to its Thalavady office for inquiry.

When wildlife veterinarian S Sadhasivam from Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) came there to conduct an autopsy, the farmers and villagers there staged a protest, pointing out that the officials had already concluded it to be electrocution even before the postmortem examination. The veterinarian and Forest staff finally left without conducting autopsy.

“How could the Forest Department conclude that the elephant died of electrocution even before conducting a postmortem? The farmers should be set free and cases repealed,” the villagers demanded.

The incident came close on the heels of a tusker dying in a similar manner when it attempted to enter a farm in Bargur near Anthiyur in Erode on Saturday morning.

In Krishnagiri, as a 10-member herd strayed out of Noganoor forest area into a farm owned by Narayanan, a local AIADMK functionary at Thavarakarai village near Denkanikottai late on Saturday night, a 10-year-old female elephant was electrocuted when it tried to free itself by biting a grounded electric wire that got entangled in its limb.

The line was drawn from a poultry farm to operate a borewell nearby in the farm.

The herd stood for long waiting for the collapsed elephant before retreating into the forest area. A Forest team led by veterinarian A Prakash conducted an autopsy on Sunday.