2 elephants die in north Bengal, cause not clear

Two elephants, including a calf, died an unnatural death in Dooars region of North Bengal on Wednesday, but there are conflicting reports on the cause of the death.

The incident occurred early on Wednesday, which is observed as the World Elephant Day in several countries.

Chief Wildlife Warden Ravikant Sinha said the two male elephants died in Buxa Tiger Reserve area in Alipurduar district, after coming in contact with an electric pole which was believed to be electrically charged due to rain.

The pole was carrying high tension cable.

However, Power Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said that no case of electrocution was reported from any power line of West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited in the area on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"I have inquired from our officials. Neither any power line got snapped in that area nor was there any case of tripping which would have immediately occurred had there been any electrocution," he told PTI.

"Our staffers are coordinating with the forest department in the area to assess the possible reason for the elephants' death, but there was no electrocution," the minister said.

Autopsy result of the carcasses will reveal the reason behind the deaths of the two elephants, Sinha said.

The forest official said that a complaint was lodged against the power department at the local police station for alleged lapses in the maintenance of power line.

However, Chatterjee said that, to his knowledge, a complaint has been lodged against unnamed persons and not the power department.

Five elephants have died due to electrocution in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts since mid-June, forest department sources said.

They said that the World Elephant Day is observed in various countries on August 12 since 2012 to bring attention to the plight of Asian and African elephants.

The problems faced by the animals include poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and mistreatment in captivity, sources said. 

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