Mangaluru, A 30-year-old male elephant was electrocuted in Karnataka's Mangaluru forest circle early on Tuesday as it was trying to feed itself, a forest official said.

The incident occurred at Bilinele in Subramanya Range at around 4 a.m. when the jumbo was trying to uproot a tree, but this fell on the electric line, whose wires broke and fell on the animal, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Karikalan, told IANS.

The animal also suffered a burn injury on its left leg, he said, terming the death as unnatural due to electric shock.

The electric line was not passing through the forest but outside it.

"Whenever some object falls on an electric line, it gets disconnected but it did not in this case. Had the supply been snapped, it would have been better," the forest official said.

The tree which the elephant was trying to uproot was one similar to a bamboo, and known to be eaten by the elephants.

Karikalan said the elephants generally pluck the leaves of this tree and eat them but this particular elephant tried to uproot it.

Meanwhile, the Forest Department completed the beast's post-mortem examination to proceed with other formalities, including removing the elephant's tusks and keep them in their custody to later hand it over to the Mysuru repository.

On the government's direction, the tusks can be given to some military establishment in the future for display or just kept in Mysuru itself.

Karikalan also said the department chose to burn the carcass as the place of death is near to human habitation and a road.