Forest watcher killed in wild elephant attack at Idukki in Kerala

A forest watcher was killed in wild elephant attack at Idukki district in Kerala on Wednesday.

It is the second death related to man-animal conflict in Kerala in a span of two weeks. Earlier, a farmer had died in an attack by a tiger in Wayanad on January 12.

Sakthivel, 45, who was working as a forest watcher with the state forest department, was killed at an estate at Santhanpara in Idukki.

Protesting against the frequent man-animal conflicts in the region, local people blocked the Kochi - Dhanushkodi national highway. As many as 43 persons were killed in wild elephant attacks in the region over the years, the agitated local people said and demanded concrete measures to ensure safety of people.

Sakthivel reportedly reached the estate after local people informed about the presence of an elephant herd comprising cubs during the early hours of the day. Owing to mist, there was poor visibility. As there were no whereabouts of Sakthivel for quite some time, forest officials carried out a search operation and found his body in the estate by noon. He was suspected to be trampled to death.

Local people said that Sakthivel was very familiar with the locality and he used to regularly help in chasing away wild elephants that entered human settlements. Video footage of Sakthivel chasing away wild elephants earlier had gone viral.

The fresh incident took place while the man-animal conflict remains as a hot topic of discussion in the state. Many districts in Kerala were facing man-animal conflicts mainly involving wild boars, elephants and tigers.

The state government was considering measures for controlling the wild animal population. A recent suggestion of the state forest minister that even culling of wild animals needs to be considered had triggered protests from a section of environmentalists and animal rights activists. But known ecologist Madhava Gadgil had also backed the idea of culling wild animals that enter human settlements and pose threat.