CHITTOOR : A 35-year-old female elephant belonging to the Gudiyattam forest range in Tamil Nadu was electrocuted after it came in contact with a live power cable near an agriculture borewell at Kodalamadugu village in Bangarupalem mandal, 40 km from Chittor, early on Friday.
Chittoor West District Forest Officer (DFO) told TNIE that a herd of elephants crossed into Bangarupalem mandal on Thursday night and wandered in the fields till the early hours of Friday.
However, the female elephant strayed away from the herd and entered a paddy field, where it tried to pull on the wires of an electric motor.
The jumbo died reportedly after the electric wires were stuck in her mouth. The forest official went on to say that the herd of wild elephants had been on a prowl along the borders for the past two to three months.
A team of veterinarians rushed to the spot after receiving information and conducted a post-mortem. Its carcass was buried in the field and the villagers performed special pujas as part of final rites.
Second such incident in a month
The incident comes a month after a 30-year-old male elephant was electrocuted after it stepped on an electric fence put up on an agricultural land in Nagireddypalli in the disrtict last month. According to forest officials, in Chittoor district alone, around 10 elephants and six farmers have died in the animal-human conflicts reported in the last three years.