Two female elephants were electrocuted to death at Choudwar, on the outskirts of Cuttack, recently after coming in contact with a boosted electric fence on a farm.

Forest officers said the two pachyderms, aged 10 and 15 years, had strayed into a farm at Mangarajpur village from nearby Athagarh forest range.

Electrocuted Elephants

The elephants were electrocuted to death as employees of the farm had put electric fencing around it and connected the fence to 220v mains electricity to keep them at bay.

"Both the elephants were lying dead near the fence. One of the elephants had sustained severe burn injuries on her trunk. This goes to show the intensity of the electric shock," said Rakesh Samal, a local.

Meanwhile, the local electricity officials have also decided to lodge cases against the farm employees for illegally using electric current. "The farm employees had not sought our permission to charge the fence. They misused the electricity," said a local official of Central Electricity Supply Utility(CESU). Precis and edited, Full article -  Times of India.

This clearly highlights the danger of connecting 220 volt mains to an electric fence circuit. If it

Elephant behind a technology correct Electric Fence

will kill two large elephants it will certainly do serious damage to a smaller mammal.

By the very nature of its built-in technology a normal electric fence will not cause death and I have witnessed numerous elephant touching a genuine electric fence without a problem. Fences are used extensively to achieve successful control but regrettably there are many miss-guided people who do not follow the correct guidelines and suffer the consequences for their actions - usually to the detriment of the animal.

ARE ELECTRIC FENCES A SERIOUS SAFETY RISK?