ELECTRIC fences put up by villagers to protect their crops and homes from wandering pachyderms claimed three more elephants in Assam’s Chirang district this month, with the last one on Wednesday. Officials said the one killed on Wednesday was pregnant.
This takes the number of elephants killed in similar incidents since August in the vicinity of the Manas National Park, amid a growing human-elephant conflict, to six. “At least five elephants have been electrocuted in Chirang alone since August. Villagers steal power to electrify their fences to prevent elephants from destroying their paddy fields,” said Gautam Talukdar, Deputy Commissioner, Chirang district.
