COIMBATOE: A wild elephant broke open a Public Distribution Shop (PDS) and devoured essentials meant for supply to the public in Gudalur on Saturday night.

The elephant strayed into the Thorapalli Bazaar and took a casual stroll, before stopping by a ration shop. It then broke open the shutters and pulled out sacks of rice and other essentials.

As the elephant began to consume them, the people in the neighbourhood came rushing and chased it away by making sounds. Again, around 6 am, the elephant returned to the ration shop to consume rice and other essentials spilt over in front of the shop.

Villagers said the elephant had just begun to frequent their residential neighbourhood. “So, before it gets habituated, the forest department should take concrete measures to stop the animal from entering their residential neighbourhood,” they said.

The villagers recalled that they faced a similar issue of another wild elephant damaging the shops and attacking vehicle drivers, one year ago. In another wildlife-related incident, a front-line staff of the forest department had a narrow escape, when an elephant charged at him during a driving operation at Kolapalli tea estate in Pandalur on Saturday night.

A team of staff were involved in the driving operation when the animal got furious and began to chase one. As he ran down the slope to safety, the elephant then left the spot.