State minister for power Nasrul Hamid Bipu has said strict action will be taken against anyone who kills elephants with electric wires. He gave the warning in a post on his Facebook page on 21 November.

In the post he said that some reports of elephants being killed with electric wires had recently come to their attention. To protect themselves from elephants, people in various parts of the country have built enclosures of GI wire and connected them to power lines. When an elephant tries to enter such an area, it dies of electric shock. He described the practice as extremely dangerous, both for wildlife and for people.

He added that killing any animal in this way is a punishable offence under the law and urged everyone to refrain from it. "If anyone commits such a misdeed using power lines in future, we will take strict action," he wrote.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.