Three elephants were allegedly electrocuted after coming in contact with live wire traps laid by poachers in forest areas of Odisha’s Sambalpur district, a senior forest official said on Monday.

The live wire trap might have been laid out by suspected poachers for the killing of wild elephants. Besides, the farmers in these areas also resort to lay live wire to protect the croplands from wild animals’ intrusion. All possible angles leading to the elephants’ death are being examined, added the official.

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Carcasses of these animals, including two adults and a calf, were spotted in Buramal under Naktideul forest range.

Ironically the forest officials had recently conducted an elephant census. However, they failed to detect the live wire trap, which demonstrates negligence on their part to do the forest patrolling to track the elephants, said Odisha Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Susanta Nanda.

The preliminary inquiry report furnished by the divisional forest officer insinuates negligence in performing duty by forest personnel. Besides, the Discoms also apparently did not install the poles at the proper height in the elephant habitat to protect the animals from electrocution. A departmental inquiry has been ordered into the elephant electrocution, Nanda further stated.

If the field staff had detected the live wire trap, the elephant death could easily have been avoided. This apart, the low-slung overhead electric cables were spotted at the spot.

The postmortem of the carcasses will be conducted. Search operation is on to nab the suspected poachers, added the official.

Live wire poaching traps, sagging overhead lines and electrified fences result in electrocution of these national heritage animals.

Majority of the elephant electrocution deaths are attributed to live wire poaching. Since 2010, around 120 electrocution deaths of elephants have been reported in Odisha. The shrinkage of forest cover, which used to be the habitation corridors of elephants, has led these animals to stray into village areas in search of food. This is resulting in man-elephant conflict and fatalities of protected animals, including elephants, said conservationists.

The Orissa High Court had directed the power distribution companies (Discoms) in 2023 to initiate corrective measures to arrest the electrocution of wild elephants in the State.

Elephant deaths keep occurring at regular intervals as power distribution infrastructures inside forest are not maintained in time. The pachyderms also perish as farmers in villages, hit by elephant depredation, illegally draw power from these overhead cables to create live wire fences around their crop fields. The poachers linked to the ivory smuggling gang also lay live wire traps to kill the male elephants, said conservationists.

Earlier this month, the State government had ordered an investigation into the unnatural deaths of at least 50 elephants in the state this year. The State is home to as many as 2,098 elephants in 38 Forest Divisions as per the latest census of these animals.