An elephant trampled a 60-year-old woman to death in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. The woman has been identified as S Papamma, the wife of Subbanna, a farmer from Rallapalli in Santhipuram mandal. This is the third such instance of human-animal conflict being reported from the district this week.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, sub-inspector Murali Mohan said that Papamma was out to attend a nature's call early in the morning on Sunday when the elephant attacked her. Forest officials were soon informed and visited the location. Officials suspect that the tusker might have been separated from its herd and thus moved into human settlements. Police after carrying out a postmortem have handed the body back to the woman’s family.
The paper also reported that another instance of the same elephant attacking a farmer identified as Narayanappa at Chintalapalem village under Gudupalli mandal. The farmer was attacked while working on his farm and suffered serious injuries. He rushed to the hospital and his condition is said to be critical.
On September 24, a 17-year-old girl, Sonia doing her intermediate was killed by an elephant at Parthichenu village barely 100 meters away from the Krishnagiri forest reserve. The elephant had crossed over from the reserve around 1 am. The girl and her mother had stepped out of their home to see the animal when the attack happened, reported ANI.
Forest officials in Tamil Nadu earlier this week spotted 100 wild elephants at Hosur forest division of Tamil Nadu, a few kilometres away from Kuppam mandal in Chittoor district. The Divisional forest officer Chittoor (west), S Ravishankar speaking to The Hindu said that villagers in Andhra Pradesh bordering Tamil Nadu have been put on alert about the elephants.
An eight kilometres stretch of Kuppam mandal bordering Tamil Nadu is unfenced and exposed to the frequent raid by elephants from the Koundinya wildlife sanctuary. The elephants come for the farmer's crops. Over the years, officials have set up trenches and fences to bring the raids under control but some portions of the reserve remain unfenced, the officer added.