Erode, Dharmapuri ryots killed by elephants

Two farmers lost their lives in wild elephant attacks in Erode and Dharmapuri districts. Past midnight on Wednesday, R Selvam alias Ponnusamy (46) from Ammapet in Erode woke up and came out of the house on hearing the screams of people against intrusion of an elephant into the farmland. “As he stood in the veranda looking out, a wild jumbo came from the dark and charged on him. The jumbo caught him by its trunk and flung him to the ground before trampling him to death right in front of his wife. It then retreated into the forest,” said a forest department staff. 

On receiving information, District Forest Officer Vismiju Viswanathan, Bhavani DSP Sekar and Anthiyur Tahsildar Malathi and other officials rushed to the spot and held inquiries. The villagers claimed that three persons were killed in elephant attacks in the locality in the recent months. 

They urged the forest department to take concrete action to prevent intrusion of wild elephants into the villages. The villagers also demanded the forest department to put up solar fencing to prevent elephants from straying out of forest cover. 

Upon convincing the villagers that their demands will be taken to the notice of the government, the forest department sent the body of the deceased for a post-mortem at Anthiyur GH. In another incident, Murugesan (48), a shepherd from Vannathipatti near Pennagaram in Dharmapuri had taken the cattle for grazing abutting forest boundary in Hogenakkal forest range on Wednesday. 

He then did not return home and could not be found anywhere. Following a search on Thursday, the forest department staff found him trampled to death in the forest area. On receiving information, the Pennagaram police retrieved his body and sent it for post mortem at Pennagaram GH. Murugesan is survived by his wife Sanjeevi, two sons and a daughter.