MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - Six wild Asiatic elephants
have been electrocuted while wreaking havoc after drinking rice
beer, the Indo-Asian News Service said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred after a herd of elephants had wandered into
the streets of the Chandan Nukat village in the province of
Meghalaya, in northeastern India, in search of food. However,
instead of food, they came across barrels of rice beer. After
drinking the homebrew, the drunken animals rampaged across rice
fields and banana plantations.
The deaths happened when an adult male tried to rub his back
against a high-voltage electric pole, which subsequently toppled
under his weight, causing the live wires to come crashing down on
the his back. Five more elephants from the herd, including three
calves, then rushed to his rescue, each subsequently receiving a
fatal electric shock.
"Some of the elephants were charred partly, while others bled
through their trunks after the electric shock," the agency quotes
Kushal Konwar Sharma, a wildlife expert, as saying.
More of the elephants could have shared the same fate, but
villagers who had witnessed the incident chased the herd away from
danger.
The state administration of Meghalaya said that the animals often
go berserk in the region, destroying houses and killing people. The
giant mammals are known to prefer beer, which is more nutritious
and rich in micro-elements, to their ordinary food.