Elephants chase estate workers, damage temple

The wild jumbo, emerging out of a bush, began to charge at the labourers, who were busy plucking tea leaves around 8 in the morning. Though panicked, the labourers managed to run into a temple nearby to escape the fury of the elephant.

The agitated workers then resorted to a protest-refusing to resume work-demanding a permanent solution to such elephant intrusion. It was only on Monday night that a herd of about 13 elephants strayed into the same temple in TANTEA-where the workers on Tuesday took refuge from the attack, and damaged its structure.

The animals damaged the building and broke into a room, where vessels and cooking essentials were stored. They moved away only after consuming the stored food items.

In another incident, 60-year-old Moideen Kutty from Pattavayal village on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border was injured in an alleged attack by a wild elephant in the early morning hours.

Moideen was going to a mosque to offer prayers around 5 am when an elephant came his way and attacked him. On hearing his loud cries, the villagers rushed to the spot and chased away the animal. The elderly man has been admitted in a private hospital in neighbouring Kerala.

The villagers, who were upset by the incident, resorted to a road roko, blocking vehicular movement on the Kerala-Gudalur Road for a while. The villagers claimed that three persons came under attack by wild elephants in the last two months and that one among them had even died.

The villagers urged the Forest department to take measures such as deepening trenches and install solar fences along forest boundaries to prevent elephants from straying into residential areas.

In Coimbatore, the Forest department has appealed to the public not to go for morning walk on the Marudamalai Road due to frequent movement of elephants.