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.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.