Elephant calf electrocuted to death in Bengal

An elephant calf was electrocuted to death in a village adjoining the Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district of West Bengal on Wednesday, forest officials said. The incident occurred in the morning when a herd of elephants entered a betel nut grove in Purba Madarihat village and started vandalising it, they said.

One of the trees fell on power supply lines and a wire got snapped. The elephant calf came in contact with it and died on the spot, the officials said. The villagers chased away the herd back to the forest, averting more deaths of elephants as the pachyderms could have got electrocuted while trying to rescue the calf, they added.