Wild elephant strays into human settlements in Idukki

The animal strayed into a residential neighbourhood at Amalagiri near Peruvanthanam under Erumeli forest range on Wednesday morning.

A wild elephant strayed into a residential neighbourhood at Amalagiri near Peruvanthanam under the Erumeli forest range in Idukki on Wednesday morning. According to residents, the wild elephant was spotted in front of the house of Vaniyapurakal Eliyamma around 12.45 a.m. Footage from CCTV cameras in the spot showed the wild elephant moving to a nearby farmland.

After the local public alerted Forest department officials, the Rapid Response Team (RRT) team was deployed, which found the elephant from Chuzhup near Peruvanthanam. Forest department officials are trying to chase the animal away from residential areas. Residents here claimed that the presence of the animal was not reported from Amalagiri before.

Moreover, in Munnar, many residents said that wild tusker Padayappa had returned and had been damaging farmlands for the past several days at the Chittivara estate. Besides, a wild gaur entered a residential area at Nallathanni on Tuesday night and caused large-scale crop damage. A wild elephant herd damaged the vehicle of a dam operator at Anayirankal dam on Wednesday morning.

However, the district-level coordination committee meeting on human-wildlife conflict was convened by Idukki District Collector V. Vigneshwari on Wednesday. The meeting discussed wild elephant attacks in forest fringes and the menace of tigers and leopards in tea estate areas. It also discussed the installation of hanging solar fencing and trenches in forest bordering areas and the speedy distribution of compensation in human-wildlife conflict incidents. Division-level Forest department officials and other department officials also attended the meeting.