A male elephant was found electrocuted in a banana plantation at Varappalayam village near Coimbatore on Saturday.
Forest Department officials said the tusker was found dead in a land belonging to Manoharan which is located around 1 km from Thadagam north reserve forest area.
Senior officials rushed to the spot and inspected the elephant. They found that the trunk of the tusker was in contact with an iron cable that was erected around the farm for electric fencing.
The officials were checking whether the fencing was powered using a DC energiser whichis an approvedmode of electric fencing thatgive mild, intermittent shock to scare animals. In normal cases, fencing with alternative current (AC) as the source of power leads to electrocution.
But there was no mention of the tusker’s presence in Mr. Manoharan’s land as per the information shared by the Forest Department’s Border Night Patrol Team (BNPT) on the WhatsApp group ‘Thadam’.
According to the BNPT members two female elephants and a calf entered the farm of Mr. Manoharan at Varappalayam around 4 a.m. and they were driven back to the forest at 5.30 a.m.
“The BNPT staff were in the farm till 5.30 a.m. as per the information they shared on the WhatsApp group. However, there is no mention of the tusker’s presence in the message. News on the tusker’s death spread in the locality sometime later. It has to be investigated whether the staff tried to hide information about the tusker’s death orthey failed to see thedead animal during theirvisit,” said a member of the group who did not want to be named.
