A seven-year-old female elephant along with a four-month-old male calf met with an agonising end when they came in contact with a dangerously low-surging high tension TNEB line passing through the sanctuary. They were part of a herd of around 20 elephants foraging through the forests.

The local people narrate a tearful sight at the spot where the mother of the calf, which was lucky to escape the tragedy, stood by its child for more than 24 hours after the incident.

The incident occurred in the area between Thunnakadavu and Aanapaady and in spite of the sight of a crowd of people, the mother refused to leave the place.

Meher Singh, Conservator (Wildlife) (Northern region), and Divisional Forest Officer Rajan Seghal immediately rushed to the spot and took stock of the developments. A criminal case under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, was booked against the TNEB officials concerned.

The electric line at the point of the tragedy was found only 3.75 m above the ground level against the stipulated height of 7.1 m.

Moreover, after the tragedy, the entire stretch of the line passing through the sanctuary was inspected by the Forest Department and the dangerous points from the angle of wild animals were intimated to TNEB for rectification.

Similarly, one elephant was electrocuted two years ago but at that time no cases were charged against the erring officials.

The forest authorities had directed that the poles should be of 8-m height so that the lines are maintained at a height of 7.1 m. Nearly 25 km inside the sanctuary has been covered by electric lines from Top Slip to Thunakadavu via Aanapaady and Parambikulam.

Additional poles were directed to be put wherever necessary.

TNEB was also directed not to charge the line till the lines were raised. But three days after the incident on September 18, they charged the line ignoring the directions of the DFO, Parambikulam, after rectifying around 10-12 dangerous points.

The reason cited by the TNEB staff was that power was urgently needed to release excess water from the Parambikulam Dam due to incessant rains and that the security of the dam itself was threatened.

However, the TNEB officials have agreed to bring the line levels to safer heights within 15 days by installing more poles wherever necessary.

The dead elephants were photographed and a postmortem conducted on the female elephant and the case was booked. The calf was, however, buried.

The death of elephants and wild animals is mostly man-made in the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary. Apart from the two incidents of electrocution in the last two years, one may also recall the sensational death of five large elephants in 1984.

An elephant herd was quenching the thirst at the Thunnakadavu tunnel through which the excess water from the Parambikulam Dam is released to the Tamil Nadu side. A false step by one of them saw another four being washed away through the tunnel and five of them were killed as they were hit by rocks.