Baby elephant electrocuted to death in Andhra’s Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary

A two-year-old baby elephant died of an electric shock near Palamaner in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, as it got stuck to an electric transformer on a stretch of the Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary, close to the Tamil Nadu border. This is the third elephant to have died in the limits of the sanctuary this month alone.

According to forest officials, the incident took place on Sunday around 5 am. Speaking to TNM, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Chittoor West, Sunil Reddy, said, “This male baby elephant is around two years old. It got stuck due to electric shock as it couldn't sense danger while moving through the area where the transformer was.” The farmland falls under Palamaner municipality.

Forest officials have called in local veterinarians to conduct the postmortem. When asked about the recent deaths, the DFO said that the three elephants that have died so far came from Tamil Nadu’s forests. Elephants pass through seasonally as the sanctuary is in between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Concerns have been raised about the lives of the elephants following the three deaths reported this month in the limits of Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary.

“The other two female elephants which died earlier this month, were attacked by male elephants. The injuries on their bodies suggested that the young male elephants were in musth period (a period during which bull elephants are aggressive due to an increase in testosterone) attacked them,” he said.

According to forest officials, there are as many as 35 elephants in Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary limits. The forest official said that all measures are being taken to ensure the safety of wildlife, and added that local electricity officials will be instructed to set up safety nets near transformers.