A wild elephant was electrocuted in the fields at Buvanamantha village, located at a forest enclosure, in Somala mandal of Punganur range, 70 km from here, on Thursday.
The adult tusker, aged around 25 years, was among a three-member herd of Palamaner range which had strayed into the Somala forests, close to the Seshachalam hills a week ago.
Divisional Forest Officer (Chittoor West) S. Ravi Shankar said the “young adult” elephant was on the prowl in a paddy field at the enclosure area when it came in contact with a power line that was dangling, leading to its instantaneous death.
“As per preliminary inquiry, due to the recent rains an electric pole had bent at the enclosure zone leading to the dangling of the power line across the field. The farmer of the field informed us that he had approached the electricity staff concerned to rectify the problem, but in vain. We are further looking into the matter,” the DFO said.
Farmers of Buvanamantha and surrounding villages, who rushed to the spot, deplored that in spite of losing their crops in the jumbo raids, they were very much concerned about their safety in view of the precariously dangling power lines across the fields. “Three wild elephants have been on prowl in our area for the last one week. If the power department staff can’t act now, more jumbos would be at peril,” a farmer observed.
Meanwhile, the latest jumbo death comes as the 10th casualty in a span of two years in Chittoor district, all due to electrocution in agricultural fields.
A team of veterinarians and senior forest officials from Punganur and Chittoor visited the village. The officials performed post-mortem and buried the carcass in the field.
