Four elephants were electrocuted at Umdoh village near Byrnihat in Ri-Bhoi district on Monday. Of the four, three were female adults and one male calf. This is the second such incident that took place this year. Last month six elephants died in a village in West Garo hills due to electrocution taking the total number of pachyderm death to 10 in Meghalaya.

Chief Conservator of Forest Research and Training Wild Life, Sunil Kumar said, “The herd was crossing over from one end of the jungle to another, when one of the elephant’s trunk got entangled in a high tension wire.”

Kumar said as the elephant was struggling, others came to help him and in the process all of them were electrocuted. “It is very difficult to check such incidents and every year around 10 elephants lose their life due to electrocution.” Last year, the State Forest Department had written a letter to the Meghalaya State Electricity Board (MeSEB) to raise the electric poles wherever possible.

Kumar said the MeSEB had promised to raise the height of the poles, but neither the forest department nor the MeSEB can predict which route the elephants were likely to take making the job that more difficult.

In Meghalaya, the total population of pachyderms has been put at 1868. Kumar said the population has more or less remained the same for many years. “Elephants die either due to electrocution or retaliatory killing by the villagers.” Kumar said the forest department has not come across elephant poaching.