Hotmail
Elephants electrocuted in drunken rampage
They had found rice beer in Indian village; incident reflects loss of habitat
 | Video: Environment |
 Majora Carter: 'We have to dream bigger' Long before going green was chic, Majora Carter recognized an urgent need in communities that were hard-pressed to find even a park. Carter talks to NBC's Anne Thompson about her ongoing efforts to bring environmental justice to inner cities. |
 | Environment slide shows |
 for msnbc.com Race to rescue rhinos The northern white rhino is nearly extinct, with just eight known to exist, but a rescue operation that included airlifting four from a Czech zoo to Kenya, is underway. |
 |
Breaking news alerts (about 1 per day) |
Find more alerts at alerts.msnbc.com |
GAUHATI, India - Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India's remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.
Nearly 40 elephants came to a village on Friday looking for food. Some found beer, which farmers ferment and keep in plastic and tin drums in their huts, said Sunil Kumar, a state wildlife official.
They got drunk, uprooted a utility pole carrying power lines and were electrocuted in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 150 miles west of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, Kumar said.
"There would have been more casualties had the villagers not chased them away," said Dipu Mark, a local conservationist.
The elephants are known to have a taste for rice beer brewed by tribal communities in India's northeast. Four wild elephants died in similar circumstances in the region three years ago.
India's northeast accounts for the world's largest concentration of wild Asiatic elephants with the states of Assam and Meghalaya alone estimated to have 7,000 of them.
"It's great to have such a huge number of elephants, but the increasing man-elephant conflict following the shrinkage in their habitat due to the growing human population is giving us nightmares," said Pradyut Bordoloi, a former forest and environment minister for Assam.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM ENVIRONMENT |
 Environment Section Front |
| Add Environment headlines to your news reader: |
Find the perfect online school and Boost your Career! Free Info Pack.
www.EarnMyDegree.com