Rajasthan: 5 Panthers, bovine electrocuted in Bundi forests

Several domestic and wild animals including five panthers died of electrocution in the forests falling under the Dabi Range in Rajasthan. While the incident is suspected to have happened a few days ago, the forest officials were informed by locals on Tuesday evening.

Bundi (Rajasthan): Two panthers, two cubs, three bovines, and three mongoose died due to electrocution in the dense forests, around 10 kilometres away from Dabi area in the Bundi district of Rajasthan.

The State Forest Department received the information on Tuesday evening. The department said the incident may have happened a day or two ago. As soon as they were informed, officials of the Forest Department reached the spot and brought all the dead animals to Dabi range, where the post-mortem will be conducted by the Medical Board on Wednesday night.

Representatives of police and state administration will monitor the autopsy. Speaking to ETV Bharat, Ranger Sanjay Sharma of the Forest Department, Dabi Range said, "The accident happened in the dense forest of Dasaliya (A) forest section. An 11-kilovolt (kV) high-tension line was lying on the ground and the animals died due to electrocution”.

"Probably the cattle were the first to get hit by this current, and to prey on them, a female panther with her two cubs also reached the spot. Other wild animals too died of electrocution after they tried to feed on the dead cattle," Sharma said. He added that a male panther who had probably come in search of its female partner was also electrocuted.

"People reached out to search for their cows in the area and informed us about the incident. We cut off the electricity soon after and then rushed to the spot and pulled out the dead animals after a lot of difficulty," the Ranger said.

Sharma said the electricity department informed him that there was a three-phase line and since the majority of single-phase motors kept working even after part of the line had fallen, nobody complained about it.

The livewire also triggered a fire in the forest though the same did not spread too far, an official said. “The age of the female panther was two-three years, while the cubs seemed to be three to four months old. The correct assessment of the age will be clear only after post-mortem”, the official said.

Shockingly, the electricity department did not receive any information about the line breaking for two days. The 11 kV line runs from Dabi to Badfu. Junior engineer Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (JVVL) Prateek Sharma said, “Several feet (of kV line) had fallen due to an insulator breaking. We closed the line immediately after receiving the information”.