Guwahati: Two more wild elephants died on Tuesday in Assam’s Nagaon and Udalguri districts, forest department sources said.
The first case is of a three-year-old male calf which fell into a deep drain in Amsoi Tea Estate after getting separated from its herd on the Morigaon-Nagaon district border Monday night.
The herd was coming from Amsoi hills in Meghalaya. The calf was suffocated to death at around 8 A.M. on Tuesday as it got buried under loose earth which fell on her while her mother tried to rescue it by digging up the ground with her trunk, locals said.
Meanwhile, in Udalguri district, a male adult jumbo was electrocuted at Nalapara in the Borangajuli revenue circle in the Indo-Bhutan area.
The elephant, which had come out of Bornadi Wildlife Sanctuary on the foothills of Himalayas, died after it came in contact with high-tension wires, forest officials said.
There is an allegation that electric transformers kept exposed and electric poles bent down by locals so as to harm rampaging wild elephants when they approach human settlements in search of food.
The elephant calf’s death in the Assam-Meghalaya border is the third such case in the last two months.
A male pachyderm had died near Jagiroad in Sonaikuchi Hill Track in May while another was killed in the Sitajakhala Hill Track area last month.
Rampant encroachment of forests by people have caused the habitats of elephants to shrink and extreme shortage of their food sources lead to malnourishment among them, particularly in calves, environmentalist said.
The environmentalist are concerned that malnourishment was causing the elephants to become weak over the years leading to their deaths even when they fall down drains or come in contact with electric wires.
On Monday two wild male tuskers died after they were electrocuted by a high tension electric transformer in Nagaon district after they had come out from nearby forests in search of food. (PTI)