Elephant electrocuted in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani; 2nd such incident in one month

The elephant was crossing the field when its trunk came under the contact of 11 KV high tension line and it died on the spot

An elephant died due to electrocution after it came in contact with a high-tension line when it was crossing over sugarcane fields at Motahaldu, Haldwani city in Uttarakhand on the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

After post-mortem, the elephant was cremated by forest officials. (File image (Representative))

Vaibhav Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO) Terai central forest division of Rudrapur, said, “A fully grown adult tusker died after coming into contact with a sagging electric line.”

It is likely that the elephant had come into the sugarcane field on Monday night or in the early hours of Tuesday. The elephant was crossing the field when its trunk came under the contact of 11 KV high tension line and it died on the spot”, he said.

He said the forest team rushed to the spot after receiving information from locals.

After post-mortem, the elephant was cremated by forest officials, he added.

“The villagers said they had complained to Uttarakhand power corporation limited about the loose hanging of the power line, but the wires were not fixed,” he said.

The DFO said a case will be filed in the matter.

“If power line is not found according to norms, then action will be taken against the officials concerned”.

This is the second such incident in the state in the last one month.

Last month, an elephant was electrocuted after coming into contact with a high-tension line in Khanpur range of Haridwar district.

The elephant had come into contact with a hanging wire of high-tension line near an agricultural field of a local farmer.