20-year-old elephant found electrocuted near paddy field in Coimbatore

A team who were involved in driving another lone male elephant into forest area near Mullankad check post rushed to the spot immediately along with electricity dept

In a shocking incident, a 20-year-old male elephant was electrocuted near a paddy field, whose owner had erected an electric fence, in Coimbatore district.

The incident took place on Tuesday morning in Semmedu village in the Boluvampatti range in the district.

Forest officials rushed to the spot at 5.30 am on Tuesday after receiving a phone call that a male elephant was found dead near the field owned by Durai from Semmedu village.

Read: Sri Lanka posts highest number of elephant deaths in the world

A team who were involved in driving another lone male elephant into forest area near Mullankad check post rushed to the spot immediately along with electricity department officials.

“During the inspection by Ranger and Electricity Board officials, it was revealed that a steel wire fence had been erected around the farm field and that electricity had been stolen from the main location by wire through the steel wire fence,” D Venkatesh, District Forest Officer (DFO), Coimbatore, said.

He added that the elephant was spotted in the area last week but was chased into the forest by teams from the Forest Department. “Our teams are working round-the-clock to monitor elephants. We have registered a case and the investigation is on and an autopsy will be conducted on the tusker,” Venkatesh said, adding that the paddy field owner has gone missing.

Venkatesh said Durai removed the illegal electric fence immediately before fleeing the village.