Tamil Nadu: Wild elephants raid farms in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A day after two kumkis were brought from Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) to capture a tusker in conflict with human beings, two other wild elephants strayed out of the forest area and damaged farms in the Coimbatore outskirts.

Two wild elephants ventured out of the forest near Narasipuram area on Saturday night and raided on plantain crops and coconut trees, causing widespread destruction. They also damaged the fence barricade erected around the farm.

As the forest department has been focused on capturing another wild elephant, the farmers, who were shocked to see the damage on Sunday, rued that there is slackness in preventing elephant intrusions in their neighbourhood.

They urged the forest department to bring those two kumkis to drive away the wild elephants. The affected farmers also demanded immediate compensation for the loss incurred due to the damage caused by the wild elephants.

Meanwhile, two kumkis, Muthu and Narasimma, have been deployed at Dhaliyur near Boluvampatti to capture a wild elephant nicknamed ‘Rolex’ by the local people. Multiple teams of the forest department are maintaining a close watch after the wild elephant was suspected of having attacked two people to death over the last two months.

However, the forest department is exercising caution in its capturing efforts since the animal seems to be aggressive. After capture, the wild elephant is likely to be translocated into deep forests