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Two elephant calves electrocuted in Hassan

According to sources, a herd of five elephants had strayed into the paddy field. Two calves were electrocuted, while two adults escaped.

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Two elephant calves were electrocuted in a private paddy field in Vatepura of Alur Taluk in Hassan district on Thursday morning.
According to forest officials, two calves — one aged 4-5 months and the other about one-and-half years — were found dead on Thursday morning.

According to sources, a herd of five elephants had strayed into the paddy field. Two calves were electrocuted, while two adults escaped. Until last evening, the forest officials and the local police were trying to get close to the carcasses to conduct a postmortem.

But the mother of the duo had not moved from the place. The police officials are also inquiring with the locals about the owner of the field. The search for the accused is on and they will be booked under the Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

The official pointed out that every night pachyderms have been straying into private coffee estates and paddy fields. In the mornings, they wander about the acacia plantations, located 300 metres away from the fields. The division houses around 20-25 pachyderms. It is yet to be confirmed whether the pachyderms were moving towards the pumpsets or towards the plantations when they were electrocuted.

It may be noted that in October 2009, one case of electrocution was reported. Experts pointed out that the electrocution of pachyderms in private fields is a menace to deal with. Despite repeated attempts to educate the farmers on the use of solar fencing and to opt for alternate crops, they remain unchanged, which constantly leads to man-animal conflict. They also revealed that farmers take illegal electricity connections for their fences to prevent entry of elephants or other wild animals, which has led to several animal deaths. So further awareness needs to be created and stricter penalty needs to be imposed, they said.

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