Forest Department authorities in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore district are still struggling to rehome a herd of elephants that have taken refuge in villages at the foot of Western Ghats and have been feeding on crops for the last couple of days. The elephants entered the Thondamuthur area in the district on Tuesday, November 14 and raided provisions at a ration shop in Kuppanur village. They have now taken to raiding the vegetable fields, stirring more panic among residents.
According to reports, repeated instances of elephants wandering into villages have been occurring in Thondamuthur, Narasipuram and Thadagam areas. These are places where various vegetables including tomatoes, onions and cauliflowers are grown. Residents have made multiple complaints to forest officials, but the issue seems to persist.
In the current situation, attempts to chase the animals back into the forest have not been entirely successful. For the last two days, Puthiyathalaimurai reports, the elephants retreat into the forests in the early hours of the day and come back into the fields past midnight.
Last night, the elephants descended from the Ayyasamy hills and entered nearby villages. Panicked residents notified the Forest Department. Officials who arrived on the scene, split into three teams and tried to chase the elephants back into the forest. However, the elephants fled to Kuppanur village and took refuge among dense shrubbery bordering the forests. Residents of the affected villages all say that elephants keep coming back looking for food and water, putting the people at risk. They also say that their crops are repeatedly destroyed causing them to sustain heavy losses.