Jashpur (Chhattisgarh): An elephant died due to electrocution after touching an electric cable in a farm near Kurdeg village of Bagicha forest range in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district on Wednesday.
A villager, Ravi Nagvanshi heard that a group of elephants was roaming around the village and they were damaging crops in the area for the last two to three days. In the meantime on Wednesday morning, he found an elephant dead in the field. Later the villagers informed the forest department about the incident.
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Forest Range Officer, Ashok Singh reached the spot along with his team and started preparation for the post-mortem of the dead tusker. " Around 20-25 elephants from the Surguja-Sitapur area crossed from this area last night. These elephants moved towards the Lundra region while one elephant died after getting in contact with electric wires," said Singh.
"We had written letters to the electricity department in the past regarding hooking (illegal power connection from electric poles) and tightening loose wires. Now, action is being taken against the accused person under sections of the Forest act who resorted to hooking due to which the elephant died," he added.
Earlier on November 30, an elephant died due to electrocution after coming in contact with an electric cable in the Kansabel forest area of Jashpur district. On November 27, the carcass of an elephant was found in the Ghui Forest Examination Centre in the Surajpur district of Chhattisgarh, an official said. Chhattisgarh has reported more than 70 elephant deaths in the last five years, primarily because of natural causes but some because of electrocution.
