A female wild elephant was electrocuted near Madukkarai here on Friday night.
Forest officials said that an elephant aged around four was killed after it came in contact with power lines of a solar-powered electric fencing erected around a banana farm belonging to Thangavel Gounder at Kalkuthipathi.
According to the officials, the fencing which killed the young elephant was powered by solar powered energiser which leaves mild intermittent shocks to scare animals.
However, the elephant was trapped in the power lines of the fencing while crossing it and could not escape. The farm is located around 20 metres from the boundary of forests coming under Pooluvapatti block II of Madukkarai forest range.
Debasis Jana, Assistant Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, inspected the carcass of the elephant and the farm where a herd of elephants damaged around one acre of banana on Friday night.
District Forest Officer D. Venkatesh said that it was a typical case of electrocution as it died of shock from solar-powered electric fencing, which is legal.
“While other elephants managed to cross the fencing after raiding the plantation, the young elephant got trapped in the power lines of the fence. Though there was a power trip system in the fence, the elephant could have suffered multiple minor shocks as the power lines got tangled with the animal. The farm does not have a power connection and the fencing was fully powered by solar panels fixed on top of a cattle shed,” he said. Following the incident, other elephants camped near the farm in forest peripheries on Saturday.
The carcass of the elephant will be autopsied by a veterinary surgeon in the presence of officials from the Forest Department and representatives of environmental NGOs on Sunday. This is the second incident in the Coimbatore Forest Division, this year.
