A wild elephant was electrocuted near a farm at Ginbahar village of Kunkuri forest range in Jashpur district. The male jumbo seemed to have come in contact with live wire that was hooked by villager for getting power supply, Chief Conservator of Forest Surguja Circle SK Singh said on Saturday.
“The incident happened in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday in Bandarchua forest beat of Kunkuri Range. It was not intentional laying of live wire for killing elephants,” the CCF added. According to forest officials, the age of male elephant would have been 10 to 12 years and was part of herd having 10-15 elephants approximately, roaming in forested the area for past few days.
The body was spotted on Saturday morning and the matter was immediately reported to forest department. Meanwhile wildlife expert Amalendu Mishra reacting over the incident said that forest department has adopted a complete callous attitude toward man-elephant conflict problem in northern part of Chhattisgarh.
“In this Monsoon season, wild elephants move out of jungle and raid in village bordering forest area for getting food. This has escalated tension among people living in villages near jungle. In past alsoseveral deaths of wild elephants were reported due to electrocution and forest department has not been doing much to prevent such incidents,” he charged.