Three elephants were electrocuted at a wildlife sanctuary in northern India, apparently after they uprooted a utility pole and were caught in its wires, a park official said today.
Vijay Pandey says the charred bodies of the elephants entangled in the wires were found at the Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh state.
Pandey said the elephants appeared to be part of a herd moving through the park in the Himalayan foothills.
India's wild elephant population is estimated at about 26,000.
Although the threat to elephants in India is not as dramatic as that facing tigers, the steady decline of their population worries wildlife activists.