Tusker electrocuted by Tangedco power line at Poochiyur

Coimbatore: A male elephant was electrocuted after an overhead electric cable fell on it at Poochiyur village near Periyanaickenpalayam in the Coimbatore forest division in the early hours of Saturday.
Forest officials said the electric pole was broken into two pieces and a live wire fell on the elephant.
“A temple priest found the elephant on a barren land, one kilometre away from the forest, around 7am on Saturday and informed us,” said T K Ashok Kumar, district forest officer (DFO), Coimbatore division.
“The tusker was around 25 years old and had no ailment. We suspect that the elephant might have rubbed its head against the pole, a typical behaviour of elephants to get relief from itching. In the process, the elephant could have damaged the pole,” the DFO said after inspecting the spot.
Local residents said they often spotted elephants in the area, but they did not report the incidents as the elephants did not disturb them or pose any danger.
Conservator of forests S Ramasubramanian, assistant conservator of forests M Senthilkumar, forest veterinary officer A Sukumar and other officials visited the spot. The frontline staff removed the pole after the TANGEDCO disconnected the power supply. A postmortem was carried out on the spot in the evening.
Meanwhile, a high-level meeting convened by Coimbatore collector Kranthi Kumar Pati in the evening discussed ways to prevent elephant deaths due to electrocution. The officials decided to create maps to study movement of wild elephants and identify low-lying power lines.
Low-lying power lines will be shifted from 1-5km radius of the reserve forest boundary and high-tension lines will be installed.
Officials from the forest department and TANGEDCO will conduct field surveys to find vulnerable spots.