Boozing Elephants Electrocuted

As fiction, no one would find this story plausible.

GAUHATI, India -- Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India's remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

Nearly 40 elephants came to a village on Friday looking for food. Some found beer, which farmers ferment and keep in plastic and tin drums in their huts, said Sunil Kumar, a state wildlife official.

They got drunk, uprooted a utility pole carrying power lines and were electrocuted in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 150 miles west of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, Kumar said.

"There would have been more casualties had the villagers not chased them away," said Dipu Mark, a local conservationist.

The elephants are known to have a taste for rice beer brewed by tribal communities in India's northeast. Four wild elephants died in similar circumstances in the region three years ago.

As non-fiction, one has to wonder how much beer it takes to get 40 elephants drunk. Not only that, but what does one do with six rotting elephant carcasses in a village with no electricity? Well, I don't know but if you answer correctly, you're automatically accepted into the Peace Corps.

Tip: Charlie N.