2 elephants electrocuted in Nilgiris district

Two elephants were electrocuted at a farm in hilly Nilgiris district, forest department sources said today.
The carcass of the pachyderms - a 12-year-old male and an 18-year-old female - were found in the farm at Kothadi village in Gudalur, about 80 km from here, by some locals today and they informed Forest department officials.
The farm owner claimed that a power cable snapped after some betel nut trees uprooted by the elephants fell on the animals.
The elephants accidentally stepped on the wire and died on the spot, he maintained.
Electricity department officials were inspecting the place to ascertain if the owner's claim was true or if he had electrified the fence illegally with high voltage power to prevent wild animals from entering the farm, the sources said.

Forest officials found the elephants lying on the snapped overhead high tension wire, the sources said.