Kumki escapes into wild from captivity at Chadivayal camp

Thirty-two-year-old jumbo Venkatesh escaped into the wild just a day after it was brought from Top Slip in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR). It had joined jumbo Suyambu, 21, at the camp on Sunday.

“As Venkatesh was suffering from an injury in its leg, the elephant was not chained tightly. Hence it managed to break free and stray into the wild. It was then caught, almost two kilometers from the camp site after a search of over an hour,” said an official of the Forest Department.

Around 11 am, mahout Prasad and his assistant came to the camp site and were shocked to see the kumki missing. Venkatesh is an expert in driving away wild elephants and had been involved in many operations.

Both Venkatesh and Suyambu had replaced former kumkis at Chadivayal camp, John and Cheran, who were sent to Theppakkadu elephant camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve as they were found unfit to be deployed in operations.

Meanwhile, a 27-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Coimbatore on Sunday night. According to the Forest Department, M Ganesan, working as a car driver in a private firm located barely a kilometer away from his house at Sanjeevi nagar near Kanuvai was going by walk to home around midnight, when the attack happened.

He was going by walk on the Kanuvai-Pannimadai Road, when a single wild elephant came his way and began to chase him. “The furious animal lifted him by its trunk and flung him to the ground. It also trampled him,” said an official.

On hearing his loud cries, the villagers rushed to his rescue and informed the Forest Department. He was then taken to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), where he died without responding to treatment on Monday morning.

The villagers claimed that the single elephant continues to camp in their neighbourhood and urged the Forest Department to take measures to drive it away.