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UDHAGAMANDALAM: At least 125 elephants have died in Tamil Nadu last year, marking a more than two-fold jump from the 61 deaths recorded during 2015-16. While officials blamed it mostly on natural causes, there have been numerous instances of deaths due to electrocution too in the past few years.

"The number of elephant deaths compared to the last two years has increased. But the increase is solely due to natural reasons which is not in our control," T P Raghunath, chief wildlife warden and chief principal conservator of forests, told TOI.

But for one death due to poaching, the official ruled out any deaths due to poisoning in the past two years. As for the increasing cases of electrocution, there are no record of conviction in the past one decade. The natural causes of death include diseases , infighting , wounds , falls , infections and aging .

Only 1 poaching case in 2017-18

According to the officer, the vigil has been so tight that there has been no case of poaching reported, except one during 2017-18 and one instance of poisoning in the past decade. The number of electrocution cases of jumbos has increased with six falling prey during 2015-16, which went up to 10 during 2017-18.

“We have been continuously monitoring the fringe areas with cultivation as jumbos tend to get attracted to cultivations”, said Raghunath adding, “Trouble is people use live wire fencing illegally during nights”. Forest department had filed cases under Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 for cases of electrocution of elephants.

When asked why there was no case of conviction in electrocution cases in the past, Raghunath said, “Sometimes we lack evidence and in most cases, the TNEB is not cooperative. Cases are pending with the court”.

K Kalidas, president of OSAI and former member of Tamil Nadu Wildlife Board, told TOI , “It is a cause of concern to learn about the increase in number of deaths of wild jumbos. Even natural deaths should be studied in depth to find out the cause, when it is not an aged animal”. He further said, “In summer, animals come in search of water and tend to drink contaminated water. When they raid fields, they eat pesticide-fed crops. In due course, the jumbos are influenced by both.”

According to Kalidas, there was no study regarding this aspect in the forest department. He also pointed out thateven the water inside forest areas was contaminated.

Stating that every division of forest in Tamil Nadu should have one biologist to study animal deaths, Kalidas said, “It needs a thorough study landscape-wise and continuous monitoring to come to a conclusion”. Tamil Nadu forests account for around 2,700 elephants.

