Elephant herd ventures onto main road; disrupts traffic

 With an elephant herd roaming around, road traffic was disrupted for over 12 hours on the Yercaud-Salem main road, as authorities made efforts to guide them to the forests, officials said today.

The herd, comprising six elephants including a calf, have been moving around in the hilly areas of Salem and Dharmapuri district for the last two months. Yesterday it destroyed a hut on the foothills of Yercaud, 27 km from here, officials said.

Forest, Revenue and Police officials were informed when the elephants ventured onto the main road around 1500 hrs yesterday.

Officials said eight elephant trainers from Coimbatore along with forest officials were guiding the pachyderms to Pappireddypatty forest area in Dharmapuri district, 65 km from here.
Traffic was disrupted on the Yercaud-Salem main road till 0430 hours today.