Siliguri: Electric shock severely injured and killed a female elephant near Shimulbari area on Tuesday morning.
The jumbo suffered a shock when it came in contact with an overhead electric wire on the outskirts of Siliguri.
The Forest department and police were immediately alerted about the incident by the locals. Forest department personnel and the Elephant Squad rushed to the spot. The female elephant was around 13-year-old and was separated from its herd. Locals had noticed her wandering in their locality for the past couple of days. "After being electrocuted, the elephant was unable to move from the spot where she had fallen leading to some serious injuries," stated a Forest department official.
Veterinarians from Jalpaiguri had been treating the jumbo for a night but the elephant eventually lost its life.
"The elephant had strayed in the area in search of fodder," sources said. With the unchecked expansion of human activities into the natural habitat of pachyderms, instances of man animal conflict is on the rise in North Bengal.