Nagpur: In yet another case of poaching, a female elephant died after being electrocuted at a farm fence in Gadchiroli in the wee hours of Sunday. The female had a baby, which has been left orphaned and may be looked after by other elephants in the herd now.
The female wild elephant, separated from its herd, died due to electrocution after it came in contact with a live wire erected in an agriculture field near village Wadhona in Kurkheda taluka of Gadchiroli early Sunday morning. A herd of 24 wild jumbos, from Chhattisgarh, have been roaming in Gondia, Chandrapur, and Gadchiroli districts of Vidarbha for the past nearly 14 months.
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In the last couple of months, the herd has settled on the border areas of Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts. In October, a 35-year-old elephant of the same herd was killed due to electrocution near Chitki village in Sindewahi forest range of Bramhapuri division of Chandrapur Circle. Now, this is the second incident in which an elephant of the same herd died due to electrocution.
In the past 100 years, this is the second such incident that has taken place in Vidarbha and first case in Gadchiroli district that has left the Forest Department concerned. The herd is frequently noticed by many people in the district and, after this death, a sensation has prevailed in nearby villages.
According to the forest department, the herd has been roaming in the Wadhona Bhagwanpur area for the past few days. This female tusker, came into contact with a live electric wire that was laid in the farm. The electric wire was laid by the owner of the land Raghunath Krishna Narnawre, who is a resident of village Wadhona. Due to the presence of the herd in the jungle, the forest department is frequently monitoring the jumbos with the help of drones.
On Sunday morning, one of the drones captured images of the carcass of the elephant in agricultural land. After getting information about the elephant, forest officials including Wadsa Deputy Conservator of Forest Dharamveer Saivitthal, Vigilance DFO G N Patole, Sub Divisional Forest Officer Manoj Chavan, Range Forest Officer of Wadsa Vijay Dhande, Senior Manager of Farmers for Forests Makrand Datar and others rushed to the spot and conducted the panchanama as per the SOP of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
The Wildlife Warden Milind Umre and NTCA representative Nilesh Patle also reached the spot and inspected the situation. A team of veterinary doctors from the Rapid Rescue Team of Tadoba led by Dr Ravikant Khobragade, Dr Kapil Koreti, Dr Shirish Ramteke, Dr D J Meshram was also called to examine the carcass and conduct the post-mortem. A team of MSEDCL also reached the spot and disconnected the power supply.
The farmer responsible for laying down the electric wire has been already detained for interrogation and further action will be taken under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and Indian Forest Act, 1927 after the investigation is completed,
