In a tragic accident, another elephant has been electrocuted to death in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore. In the early hours of Saturday, March 25, an adult male elephant was electrocuted in the Poochiyut forest range in Coimbatore. According to reports, the elephant rubbed himself against a cement post which was used to support an electric pole. The cement post broke down and the electric pole fell on the elephant, killing him on the spot. This is the fifth elephant death caused by electrocution in March.
Residents of the Poochiyur village informed the Electricity Board about the incident, following which the power was disconnected from the pole. As per reports, the land on which the elephant died was about 1 km from a farmland that is not in use anymore. Forest officials who rushed to the spot of incident are conducting an investigation into the issue. Arrangements for the elephant’s postmortem have also been made.
Commenting about the death of the elephant, Coimbatore-based advocate R Shanmugam alleged that the forest department and the EB are responsible for this incident. He said, “Near Kerala, there is a wire fencing around the electric pole which prevents the elephants from coming in contact with the pole. But that is not the case here. The concerned officers have to take all the reasonable steps to protect the elephants.”
On March 18, a male elephant was electrocuted to death in Dharmapuri’s Kelavalli village. In a video that was shared on social media, the elephant is seen trying to climb an elevated piece of land and came in contact with an electrical wire and died on the spot. On March 7, three elephants were electrocuted at Kali Kavindar Kottai in Dharmapuri. The incident occurred after a farmer put up an electric fence to prevent wild boars from entering his field. When three elephants tried to cross the fence.
The three adult elephants who were killed were accompanied by two calves. The two calves, who were less than nine months old were saved after the forest officials informed the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) staff to disconnect the electric wire in the fence.