Sickness and infection owing to lack of water take their toll Despite the forest department’s efforts to improve protection for elephants, the Sathyamangalam forests lost seven jumbos in the last two weeks. One of them, aged about 22 years, died due to electrocution in Siddhankuttai on Tuesday. Though a majority of the elephants succumbed to natural causes, the deaths highlighted the extent to which severe drought had affected them. “We generally witness more elephant deaths during January-May. But this time, the numbers are high. The severe drought, which reduced the availability of food and water sources in the forests, is one of the major reasons for the increasing number of elephant deaths,” an official here said. Almost all the waterholes in forest areas dried up following the failure of monsoon and the elephants, like most of the wild animals, had very little water to drink. Sickness and infections due to lack of water led to more elephant deaths, environmentalists pointed out. The drought had led to a sharp increase in the human-elephant conflicts in Sathyamangalam region this year. More than 10 persons were killed by the elephants during the last six months and a female elephant was electrocuted while raiding crops in a field. Conservator of Forests A. Venkatesh said the elephant mortality in the region was not alarming and was under acceptable levels. “Except one elephant, all others died due to natural causes. We did not witness any poaching or other unnatural events in the recent past,” District Forest Officer K. Rajkumar said. The Forest Department had taken up measures to create more waterholes and improve vegetation. “We are taking all necessary steps to keep the elephants healthy,” Mr. Venkatesh said. Sathyamangalam jungles are one of the country’s most important elephant habitats with a very healthy population. According to the census data from the department, the forests are home to at least 1,000 elephants.