Overview
- A roughly 30-year-old male was found dead on January 19 in a mango orchard at Kallupalli near Palamaner in Chittoor district.
- Forest officials said the animal contacted a live overhead wire while foraging after moving from the Punganuru range toward Palamaneru.
- The incident reached the forest department at about 1:30 p.m., and the body was sent for post-mortem with burial planned at the site on Tuesday.
- Villagers reported the elephant had roamed several nearby villages in recent weeks, occasionally straying from a herd that crossed in from Karnataka.
- Authorities recorded this as the area’s first elephant fatality of 2026, following three deaths in 2025 and roughly 30 over the past decade.