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Wayanad under grip of wild elephant attack one killed

Last Updated 12 March 2019, 08:13 IST

Wayanad district in North Kerala is under threat of wild elephant attack as a 74-year old man was killed in one such attack on Tuesday morning.

The incident occurred just a day after a wild elephant that has been causing fear in the district was caught by wildlife officials. During the last one year, about 20 persons were killed in various parts of Kerala owing to attack by wild elephants.

The Wayanad district administration had issued prohibitory orders at Panamaram, about 20 kilometres from the district headquarters Kalpetta, following the killing of a person by the wild elephant.

Wayanad district collector A R Ajayakumar told DH that efforts were going on to track the elephant. The prohibitory orders were issued to keep people on alert until the elephant was caught. Traffic in the Wayanad - Mysore routes was not affected, he said.

Wildlife officials said that owing to the summer, there would be water scarcity in the forest and hence wild elephants as well as other wild animals would tend to come to human settlements in search of water.

Raghavan, a native of Panamaram, came under wild elephant's attack by around 6.30 a.m., while returning home after buying milk. Local people who tried to rescue him were said to be scared away by the elephant. Though he was taken to a hospital after the elephant moved away, his life could not be saved. The place where the incident happened was nearly three kilometres away from the forest area.

It was after a year-long effort that a wild elephant that killed a boy last year was caught by the wildlife authorities at Vadakkanad area in Wayanad on Monday. The wild elephant was caught with the help of three Kumki elephants from Chembarathi Moola forest area, about 30 kilometres away from Panamaram.

Meanwhile, with the killing of one person by an elephant the local people staged a protest alleging that the government was not taking necessary steps to avoid man-animal conflict in the locality. They demanded setting up of trenches and fences along forest areas.

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(Published 12 March 2019, 07:59 IST)

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