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Coimbatore, Oct 23 (IANS) In two separate incidents within a day, two wild elephants in Coimbatore district – a male elephant near Thondamuthur and a female elephant in the Pollachi range – died, forest department officials confirmed on Thursday.
In the first incident, a 25-year-old male elephant died after being struck by lightning in Kuppepalayam village near Thondamuthur in the early hours of Thursday.
According to forest department sources, the tusker died after he pushed an electric pole, due to which a power line fell on him. The body was found around 5 am in an agricultural field adjacent to a public road. The farm owner saw the elephant and immediately alerted the forest staff attached to the Boluvampatti range.
Upon inspection, officials found that the electric pole, which was recently installed along the road, had fallen in the field, with a live cable from it getting stuck under the elephant’s body.
The location of the incident is about 500 meters from the Boluvampatti Block II reserved forest under Coimbatore forest division. As soon as the information was received, senior officials including the District Forest Officer reached the spot.
To ensure security, power supply to the area was cut and arrangements were made for post-mortem of the body.
Initial assessment revealed that the animal died instantly due to electric shock.
In another tragic incident, a female elephant, believed to be around 25 to 30 years of age, died within the limits of Pollachi range under Anamalai Tiger Reserve on Wednesday.
Field staff on routine patrolling in Omandi forest area of Paruthiyur beat found the elephant in a weak and sick condition in the morning. Forest department veterinary teams reached the spot and tried to revive the elephant, but it died at around 1.30 pm.
A post-mortem was conducted later in the evening and veterinarians suspected that the animal had died from disease rather than any external injury.
Forest officials said both deaths would be investigated in detail, especially the case of electric shock near Thondamuthur, to determine if there were any lapses in electrical safety measures near the forest perimeter.
–IANS
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