Taking serious note of yet another elephant death at the Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary where six of the animals have died recently, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the sanctuary’s wildlife warden and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco), Theni to file status reports in the case.
Suo motu proceedings
A Division Bench of Justices K.K. Sasidharan and P.D. Audikesavalu continued their hearing in the petitions that included the suo motu proceedings initiated by the court following news reports on elephant deaths in the Cumbum range. The court sought the report and adjourned the case for further hearing to December 17.
The court had earlier initiated suo motu proceedings following news reports on elephant deaths in the Cumbum range of the sanctuary.
Electrocution
The reports stated the deaths were due electrocution by low lying power lines. In an affidavit submitted to the court, Tangedco and Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation Limitedproposed to raise the lines within the forest range. However, a petition claimed that the deaths could be due to poaching. The petitioner said authorities would have learnt of the circuit break resulting from electrocution.
However, that was not the case and the Kerala Forest Department had recently detained two men, who confessed to poaching in the region.
In an another petition filed before the High Court Bench on Wednesday, he sought a direction for a special investigation team of the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the deaths.