Carcass of an elephant was found in a forest in Odisha's Keonjhar district on Sunday, Forest officials said. The sub-adult elephant died after coming in contact with 11 KV live wire, the forest officials said. On being informed by locals, forest officials rushed to the spot on Sunday morning. Post-mortem of the carcass will be conducted by vets.The pachyderm has a single tooth, they said.
"Prima facie it is an electrocution death, the jumbo came in contact with stay wire, supporting the electric pole, which was charged causing the death of tusker," Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Keonjhar Division H D Dhanraj told PTI. "Since the insulator was broken, the stay wire got charged as the electric pole was weak, it was supposed to be replaced, but unfortunately that was not done, the incident could have been avoided," said the DFO.
Rising elephant death has became a cause of concern for environmentalists in the state. Talking to PTI forest and animal rights activist Biswajit Mohanty demanded immediate arrest of electricity officials as they neglected safety features which was responsible for the elephant death.
In a written reply in the state Assembly on March 14, Odisha Forest and Environment Minister Pradip Kumar Amat had stated that as many as 784 elephants have died in the state in the last decade, 2012-13 to 2021-22.
