CHITTOOR: A 16-year-old elephant was electrocuted after it got in contact with a live electric wire when it hit an electric pole at Nallagandlapalle village of Byreddypalle mandal of Chittoor district in the early hours of Sunday. According to Chittoor Divisional Forest Officer S Chaitanya Kumar Reddy, the deceased elephant belongs to a herd wandering in the forest area.
“We have informed the electricity department to turn off the power in some locations during night time whenever there was elephant movement, and also to not leave any power lines hanging loose. But no action was taken,” said the DFO.
Following a postmortem, the carcass of the elephant will be cremated, he added. The DFO informed that the forest department will book a case against the electricity department under the Wildlife Protection Act.
In another incident, a 45-year-old man was mauled to death by an elephant at Punganur in Peddapanjani mandal when he came in the path of a herd. The incident took place at around 7 PM on Saturday.