Chennai: Two female elephants and a muckna elephant were electrocuted to death on Monday night when they came into contact with electric fence illegally erected at a farm near Marandahalli in western Tamil Nadu.
The forest department rescued two calves, which were part of the herd and were orphaned.
Owner arrested
The owner of the farm, Murugesan, was arrested on Tuesday.
The elephants had come into contact with the electric fence near the reserve forest in in Dharmapuri district around 10.30 pm on Monday, according to forest department officials. The department, which had lost sight of the herd that it was tracking, heard the agonising cries of the pachyderms. On reaching the spot, they found the adult elephants lying dead on the ground.
“We called officials of the electricity department and asked them to shutdown the power supply to the fence,” an official said.
The dead elephants were aged around 30 years.
Officials have the challenging task of shifting the calves and uniting them with another herd. “That will depend on whether the other herd is willing to accept the calves. If not, we have to shift them to the Mudumalai elephant camp,” said the official.
The forest department informed the Madras High Court, which was hearing an urgent petition in connection with the tragic deaths, that they would recommend to the Dharmapuri Collector that the farmer be booked under the Goondas Act.
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