Wild elephants’ tase for rice beer, which has often led to villages where the beer is produced being destroyed, took a sad turn when six of the Asiatic elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking the beer in India’s remote northeast, a wildlife official said.
The 40-strong herd uprooted an electric pole while looking desperately for food on Friday in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 240 kilometers west of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state.
“There would have been more casualties had the villagers not chased them away,” said Dipu Mark, a local conservationist.