Caution: drunk elephants ahead

Elephants are great, but I'm glad the only place they exist in the Western Hemisphere is in zoos.

Here's why.

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....
...
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.

This is the second story I've seen recently of elephants trampling through inhabited areas in India and wreaking havoc.

With India's population exploding and elephants' habitat disappearing, incidents like these are only becoming more frequent.