COIMBATORE: A 58-year-old farmer was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Kadambur in Erode on Sunday night.
The deceased, Chinnasamy, a farm labourer from Pavalakuttai near Kadambur, was returning home from work when he met with his tragic end on Sunday night.
As he came through ‘Mottankadu Thotti’, located abutting the forest area, a wild elephant emerged from the thicket and charged at him.
Though Chinnasamy took to his heels, the elephant chased and caught him by its trunk before flinging him to the ground. Critically injured in the attack, the farmer died on the spot. On receiving information from villagers, the Kadambur forest department staff sent the body of the deceased for a post-mortem.
An initial compensation of Rs 50,000 was given by the forest department to the kin of the deceased, who is survived by his wife and a daughter.
In another wildlife-related incident, the forest department has set up camera traps after a tiger attacked a ‘pregnant’ cow to death near Padanthorai in Gudalur.
The cow, owned by Narayanan from ‘Kavathi Vayal’, which was left for grazing on Sunday, was found dead in a thicket near the forest area in the evening.
On receiving information, a forest department team from Gudalur examined and confirmed the carnivore to be a tiger. Only a few days ago, on 17 July, two cattle from the same neighbourhood were mauled to death by the tiger.
As villagers broke into an argument with the forest department staff, fearing negative interaction with human beings, camera traps were placed in the locality to monitor the animal.