Female elephant killed by 'faulty' electric fence built to keep animals away from fruit grove in Thailand

Female elephant killed by 'faulty' electric fence built to keep animals away from fruit grove in Thailand

This is the heartbreaking moment an elephant was found dead after being electrocuted by a fence next to a fruit grove.

National Park officers rushed to the scene after locals reported the lifeless jumbo in Chachoengsao, eastern Thailand last Wednesday morning (April 29).

They found a female tusker, believed to be around eight to 10-years old, lying on the ground next to an electric fence placed to keep the creatures out of the area, where they would often steal mangoes.

Officers found several burn wounds on the wild elephant's carcass including marks on both of her front feet and her trunk.

The land owner Suk Noisakol, 62, said his fruit groves had been regularly invaded by the jumbos so he laid the electric fences to scare them away.

He said: "The fences only have 12 Volts, as these were made to scare the elephants when they tried to enter my farm but not kill them." Wildlife staff believed that the electric transformer might have been jammed and caused the stronger voltage to flow, enough to kill the jumbo.

Local deputy chief officer Anek Wongsa said: "The landowner used the power from his house which was 220 Volts.

He transformed it to 12 Volts at the transformer.

"We believed that the machine might be faulty because it gave out a stronger current that then killed the elephant.'' Police said they had questioned the land owner but had not arrested him as they are waiting for the autopsy result of the elephant.

Police Colonel Nattajak Chanla said: "We need the examination result on the cause of the elephant's death first before we decide if any action should be taken against the landowner who owned the eclectic fence.''