Angul: In yet another case of wild animals falling victim to man-animal conflict in the state, an elephant was found dead due to electrocution in the district on Tuesday.
According to sources, the body of the tusker was found by the villagers in a crop field in Madhapur village under Purunagarh forest range in the morning.
On being informed, the Forest officials reached the spot and started investigation. They said the pachyderm would be 15 years of age.
From preliminary investigation, they confirmed that the tusker died due to electrocution as live wires were found lying on the ground.
However, they were investigating to confirm whether the wires were laid by the poachers or the villagers to ward off the elephants from damaging their crop.
It may be noted that around 120 elephants have been electrocuted in the state between 2009 and 2019. Nearly 30 elephants were electrocuted by live wire fence/wire traps between 2018 and 2020 alone, according to Forest department figures.
On September 7 last year, Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha had said in the Assembly that as many as 282 elephants had died in the state from 2018 to August 31, 2021.
