The five-year-old calf had entered the field with a herd of 25 elephants when it stepped on the wire. The calf was instantly killed by the electrocution. A local farmer, who had laid the wire to hook power for a water pump, was booked by the forest department.
"A post mortem has been conducted and the report will be available shortly. The herd came from the Mayurjharna forest of Jharkhand and has moved to the Ausbadi forest now," said Rabindranath Saha, DFO, Rupnarayan division. The herd is believed to have around 25 elephants.
Jumbo deaths, resulting from human callousness, have increased in the recent past. Ever since the narrow guage railway tracks in the Dooars were converted to broad guage in 2002, several elephants have been killed. Seven elephants were mowed down by a goods train on the tracks of Banerhat in north Bengal on September 22, 2010. Following this incident, Union minister for environment Jairam Ramesh said that night running of freight and non-stop express trains should be stopped between New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. Read the full report here.
Source: Times News Network, Midnapore.
