Forest department, locals rescue couple from elephant attack at night

Daily wagers Muthusamy and his wife Panaiammal from Madurai were employed in a brick-kiln unit at Kanuvai in Coimbatore outskirts. They woke up terrorised from sleep during midnight to a disturbing noise.

To their shock, Muthusamy noticed a wild elephant along with its calf trying to break into their house. The couple shaken by the marauding jumbo had retreated to a corner of the house trembling in fear.

Luckily, help came from neighbours, who rushed out of their houses on hearing the loud screams from the couple and informed the forest department.

Also, the forest department staff on their routine patrol in the neighbourhood had managed to reach the spot quicker. In a brave operation, the staff entered into the house and brought out the couple to safety even as the elephant kept moving around in a restless manner.

“It is common for any single elephant with its calf to be aggressive as they feel in-secured and go on an attacking spree fearing harm from others,” said a forest department official.

As the elephant stood there for a long time without retreating into its habitat, the forest department began driving operations by firing crackers and by blaring vehicle horns. After an hour-long struggle, the elephant and its calf were chased into the forest cover.

The local villagers, who were used to seeing wild elephants entering their neighbourhood to raid on crops, were shocked once for all with the animal trying to break a house.

The terrifying incident has come a day after District Collector TN Hariharan wrote to senior forest department officials in Chennai to take steps for translocation of a problematic wild jumbo.