Chitwan, Aug. 8 -- Efforts by farmers to protect their crops from wild animals in the buffer zones of Chitwan National Park have turned deadly. Electric fences-illegally rigged with live current to ward off animals-have claimed lives of not only endangered species but also humans.

On Wednesday morning, two deaths were reported in separate locations in the vicinity of the protected area-a man and a one-horned rhinoceros. Both were victims of electrocution by unauthorised electric fences placed around paddy fields.

Lal Bahadur Moktan, aged 33, of ward 1 of Rapti Municipality in Chitwan, was found dead in his paddy field in Jogital, located in ward 6 of Manahari Rural Municipality in Makawanpur district. According to officials from Chitwan...