Tura, Sept 12: A carcass of an elephant calf has been found in a paddy field on the Assam side of the border, across Pedaldoba in Tikrikilla region of West Garo Hills early Thursday morning. Electrocution of the animal is suspected to be the cause of its death.
Wildlife officials from Garo Hills and Assam were alerted about the presence of the carcass lying in the paddy field by villagers who ventured to their fields during the early morning hours. The area is reportedly an elephant crossing zone that, over the years, has become cultivation fields.
Assam has one of the largest elephant populations in the north east, as well as a high elephant casualty rate.
Farmers in Assam are notorious for putting up live electrical wires across paddy fields to deter elephants from raiding their crops. Although it is illegal and many a times tend to result in pachyderm deaths, authorities have failed to clamp down on this death trap for the majestic beasts who are jostling for space in a fast shrinking environment where humans ultimately triumph at the cost of wildlife.
