The carcass of the adult elephant in Lezai Digolia village in Dibrugarh district on Friday. Picture by UB Photos
Dibrugarh, Dec. 9: A male elephant was found dead at Lezai Kalakhowa under Khowang forest range in Dibrugarh today.
Forest officials said the elephant got electrocuted after it came in contact with an electric wire, put up by local residents to scare away wild animals.
An FIR was lodged at Dibrugarh police station.
In less than a month, four elephants have died in the same area. On November 19, an elephant calf had died of suspected electrocution at Bordoibam village, while another died four days later at Panigaon the same way.
On Wednesday, a female elephant died while fighting with another elephant at Madhupur under Khowang forest range.
"Man-elephant conflict has been rising tremendously in the area and the animals are paying the price. Our forest department has turned a blind eye to the matter. Elephants come out of the forests in search of food. It is high time that the forest department takes strict action against those who lay high-voltage electric wires in the field," said nature enthusiast Nakul Khound.
Sources said a herd of 70 elephants had come out of the nearby Dehing Medela reserve forest in search of food and caused trouble for the past month by destroying crops.
Dibrugarh assistant conservator of forests Gulap Bania said they found a dead elephant in a paddy field at Lezai Kolakhowa today. "We did not see any electric pole where the jumbo died. We don't know how the animal came in contact with an electric wire," he said, adding that they had not found any evidence against anyone.
"We wrote a letter to Assam Power Distribution Company Limited to cut power supply at night because maximum elephant deaths are reported during that time," Bania added.
Sources said some cultivators in the area had laid electric wires in their paddy field by tapping power directly from nearby high-tension lines to protect their crops. The locals, on the other hand, alleged that elephants die because of the forest department's negligence.
Assam forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma yesterday said her department would take a slew of initiatives to prevent the man-elephant conflict that has claimed over 1,000 lives in the state in the past 16 years.
In 2005, the US Fish and Wildlife Service sanctioned Rs 5.3 lakh under the Asian Elephant Welfare Fund for construction of a three-strand electric-powered fence along Dehing Medela reserve forest to check elephant depredation in the area but now elephants easily move into the village as the fence broke down a few years ago.
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