Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Three jumbos electrocuted in Dhenkanal forest division

BHUBANESWAR: Three female elephants, including a six-month-old calf, were electrocuted at Borapada forest in Dhenkanal forest division on Saturday morning. Their carcasses were found about 12km from Dhenkanal town.

Forest officials said the two other dead elephants include a six-year old sub-adult and a 22-year old adult one. The pachyderms reportedly came in contact with a hanging electric cable near a defunct iron grill- making unit resulting in their instant death.

This is the second incident of electrocution in three days.

"Two days ago, an elephant was electrocuted at Betonati range in Baripada forest division. The carcasses were found very close to hanging cables. There were clear signs of the elephant dying of electrocution. We had intimated the power department asking them to fix the sagging wires," said Sudarshan Panda, the regional chief conservator of forests (Angul). The carcasses will be buried after their visceral samples are taken by a veterinary doctor, he added.

It must be noted that Dhenkanal boasts of 164 resident elephants, the second highest among the 50 forest divisions in the state. Mayurbhanj district has the highest number of resident elephants.
But 41 elephants have died in different forest divisions of the state in the past six months, said officials of the forest department.

"The three dead elephants belonged to a herd of 32 jumbos in the district. They were seen frequenting the area for fodder over the past one month," said a senior wildlife officer.

Biswajit Mohanty, the secretary of the Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO), said, "The electric wire was only four feet from the ground. It is a dangerous trend. Human lives could have been lost" said Mohanty.

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