COIMBATORE/CHENNAI: Coming as a dampener on World Elephant Day on Thursday, a young bull elephant was found electrocuted at Bitherkadu forest range in Gudalur forest division of the Nilgiris.
The death of the animal foregrounds the precarious state of the species in Tamil Nadu’s forests. As many as 585 elephants have died in Tamil Nadu in the last five years, some of them by electrocution. Last year, seven jumbos were electrocuted, five of them deliberately, as per official records.
In fact, there has been a major decline in the elephant population in TN since 2012. Official data accessed by TNIE show that the State maintained a healthy elephant population of about 4,000 till 2012, but witnessed a gradual decline since. By 2017, the number fell to 2,761, as per the last elephant census.
Officials said these numbers must be interpreted with caution when compared to the 2012 estimate because the severe drought of 2016 caused a large number of elephants from TN to move to adjoining States. They began to return to Tamil Nadu only with the onset of the monsoon in mid-2017.
Farmer flees TN after learning his illegal fence electrocuted elephant
But even the current population, as per estimates, is under 3,000. “One important reason for this is the dismal male-female sex ratio in the wild. The number of bull elephants has dwindled, affecting the population growth,” sources said. In this context, it is pertinent to keep healthy bull elephants like Rivaldo in the wild, rather than in captivity, to help population growth and gene dispersion, said Chief Wildlife Warden Shekar Kumar Niraj.
Meanwhile, the elephant that had died in Gudalur had come in contact with an illegal electric perimeter fence on a farm in Vattakulli village, right under the nose of forest officials and the TANGEDCO. T he deceased elephant was three-four years old. The accused, V Saji, who holds four acres of land, set up an illegal fence to protect his tea, banana, and areca nut farm from various wild animals.
After learning that the animal died of electrocution, Saji and his family reportedly fled to Kerala to evade arrest by the forest department. Bitherkadu forest range officer C Manoharan booked Saji under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as he illegally used electricity from his house to power the fence. K Rajesh Kumar, veterinary assistant surgeon of Theppkadu, carried out a post-mortem examination in the presence of forest staff and TANGEDCO officials.
Meanwhile, sources in TANGEDCO said that they would disconnect Saji’s power supply. Forest ranger Manoharan and labourers who worked on the farm said that Saji’s fence used to be electrified only at night to keep animals away. He had never sought compensation for crop damage. Manoharan added that the forest department retrieved the deceased elephant’s tusks and buried the carcass nearby.
A senior forest official explained that Gudalur is a very small forest division with only 3,000 hectares of reserve forest. Herds of wild elephants enter patta and private estates, and problems erupt during their transit. “They move through Nilambur in Kerala and Mudumalai in the Nilgiris via Gudalur, which is a unique habitat for elephants,” he said.