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A female elephant died at Sadia Range under Doomdooma division in Tinsukia district of Assam due to ‘suspected’ electrocution on August 13 morning, the Assam forest department said.

On getting information, forest personnel, along with veterinary doctors, rushed to the site of the incident and found the female elephant, around 30 years of age, dead. Post mortem is being conducted; the forest department informed.

“It looks like a case of electrocution but subjected to confirmation by veterinary doctors,” an official statement from the department said.

Rhino knocked down by speeding vehicle in Kaziranga

In another incident, a rhino was knocked down by a speeding vehicle on the animal corridor at Haldibari under Kohora Range in Kaziranga National Park on August 12 evening.

A pickup truck knocked down and injured the rhino which was crossing the NH 715 (old NH 37) running through the park. Forest and police personnel arrived at the spot immediately and seized the vehicle.

A fine of Rs 5,000 was imposed on the driver for over-speeding beyond the permissible 40 km per hour within the animal corridors.

The transport department, in coordination with the forest department, has installed speedometers on the animal corridors to minimise cases of accidents when animals cross over to Karbi Anglong hills, especially during floods.

The park authorities said the rhino fainted for a while following the collision with the speeding vehicle and after half an hour got up and slowly walked back to the forest.

The injured rhino came out from forest area on August 13 morning and attacked two vehicles of the forest department and injured a departmental elephant.

“We are trying to drive out the animal from Karbi Anglong side to the park side. Kohora Police and forest personnel are monitoring the movement of vehicles and animals. SDPO Bokakhat and forest team headed by me are supervising the operation,” said director at Kaziranga National Park, P Sivakumar.

A team of veterinarians is keeping a close watch on the rhino which has sustained injuries on its horn and leg.

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