Two killed in encounter with wild elephant in Nilgiris
The Hindu
Two men were killed in an accidental encounter with a wild elephant in Nilgiris, prompting community protests and increased monitoring.
Two persons were killed in an accidental encounter with a wild elephant in Devarshola in Gudalur forest range in the Nilgiris late Sunday (March 8, 2026) night.
The two deceased were identified as Lingaraj, 68, and Ravi, 60, both area residents. Forest Department officials said that they were returning home in the evening and were walking through a tea estate when the encounter occurred with the elephant. In the incident, both men were killed and their bodies were discovered on Monday (March 9) morning.
Angry residents staged a protest and prevented forest staff and police from retrieving the bodies for postmortem, demanding that the elephant responsible for the attacks be captured. Forest Department officials held talks with residents and promised to depute Rapid Response Teams and Anti-Depredation Squad (ADS) personnel to monitor and drive away wild elephants from human habitations.
Speaking to The Hindu, P. Devaraj, Divisional Forest Officer (Gudalur division), said that the area where the attack occurred was only a short aerial distance away from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. He said that due to this, the area was frequently used by elephants while traversing the landscape.
Mr. Devaraj said that drone-based monitoring is being undertaken to keep tabs on elephant movement in the area and to prevent such incidents.
Forest Department officials stated that based on their preliminary investigations, the encounter seemed to be accidental. They also said that they did not have any prior reports of negative human-elephant interactions involving a single, particular elephant in the region over the last few years.
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