COIMBATORE: A wild male elephant was electrocuted after coming in contact with an illegally energised electric fence around a banana plantation near Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district. Forest department officials on Monday arrested plantation owner R Kumar, 65, and farm worker K Bakiyaraj, 42, for their involvement in bypassing solar power limits to illegally tap direct current to the fence. The elephant’s carcass was found in the Vedar Colony area around 6.30 am on Monday. On being alerted by local informants, Sirumugai forest range field staffers inspected the banana plantation owned by Kumar and found the tusker’s carcass adjacent to the farm boundary fence. Preliminary inquiries conducted by forest officials revealed that the solar-powered electric fence installed around the property was unlawfully energised by alternating current (AC) at night. When the wild tusker attempted to cross the boundary, the high-voltage electrical current killed the animal. Sirumugai forest range officer D Dinesh said this specific parcel of land was subject to strict monitoring. As part of routine preventive protocols against illegal electric fencing, officials had previously enumerated solar-powered fences across the local agricultural pocket and issued explicit formal notices to the landowner regarding compliance and legal fencing parameters. Coimbatore district forest officer N Venkatesh Prabhu said regular joint inspections with the electricity board staff were being conducted. “Our personnel conducted an inspection using digital voltage detectors on June 15, confirming at the time that the fence was operating purely on legitimate solar voltage. Despite these strict preventative measures and continuous surveillance, the landowner chose to illegally energise the fence under the cover of darkness.” He added that there was an open garbage dump very close to the forest border where the waste from the entire village was being dumped. “Elephants and other animals like wild boar and sloth bear will come for the smell. We are taking measures to curtail this,” he said. The plantation owner and the farm worker were booked under Section 8 of the Wild Life Protection Act.
