Chitwan, October 15
Electric wires installed at various structures inside Chitwan National Park have become a serious threat to wildlife, with elephants, rhinos and other animals dying from electrocution.
According to park information officer Avinash Magar, two elephants, five rhinos and one leopard have died from electrocution inside the park and its surrounding buffer zone since 2007. Of these, two elephants and one rhino were electrocuted by wires installed at park offices and Nepal Army facilities.
Ronaldo, a wild male elephant that helped produce 33 calves through natural breeding at the Elephant Breeding Centre in Khorsor, Sauraha, died on September 19 after coming into contact with an electric wire connected to a Nepal Army post near Kumal Tal in the Barandabhar forest area.
Earlier, another wild male elephant named Romeo died from electrocution at the breeding centre in 2007. A rhino rescued from Golaghat and raised in Sauraha also died after coming into contact with electrified fencing at an enclosure built for elephants in 2018.
Electricity has been supplied to 39 of the park’s 58 posts operated by the park and the Nepal Army. Both bare and insulated wires are used at these facilities, according to the park.
Wildlife also dies from electric traps set to protect crops. Records show that rhinos have been killed by such traps in Bhagedi, Khairahani and Madi, as well as by other hazards, including contact with an open electric wire, falling into a hotel’s septic tank and roadside pit.
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