Another dead elephant, another dispute between the Forest Department and coffee farmers

  Another elephant has been electrocuted in the Coorg district of southern India, or as many know it, Kogadu.  As this story tells, the carcass was discovered by workers for the electric company. The discovery of the dead elephant was the beginning of more finger-pointing.
   A tree had fallen on the wires, and the broken wires subsequently killed a 12-year-old female elephants. Fallen trees are good conductors of electricity, so a browsing elephant can be killed by touching it.
   The District Forest Officer chose to place the blame on coffee farmers, saying they had failed to clear dry and fallen trees from their estate.
   However, others blame the Forest Department for failing to drive wild elephants back into the national forest.
   As "Elephants in the Coffee" points out, co-existence between agriculture and elephants is extremely difficulty, and the finger-pointing makes it even more difficult. 
    In July, seven elephants were killed in Coorg due to electrocution.

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