A four-year-old male juvenile elephant was found dead in a maize farm at Hanjalige village in Alur taluk on Wednesday morning. Villagers noticed the dead animal and informed the Forest Department officials.
The elephant is said to have been killed owing to electrocution.
A herd of over 25 elephants has been moving around Dodbetta forest area in Alur taluk. In the recent days, there were complaints of elephants damaging paddy, maize, and other crops in the area. “We came to know about the incident in the morning. The reason for the animal’s death is not known. Our staff have reached the spot and postmortem is being conducted. We will take further action according to the veterinarians’ report,” said M.L. Manjunath, Deputy Conservator of Forests.
However, according to sources in the department, the elephant died of electrocution.
The injury marks on the body prompted the officials to suspect it to be a case of electrocution.