Jumbo falls to death in ditch

An adult male elephant was found dead in a ditch near Rampur village adjoining Diju tea estate in Lakhimpur district of Assam on Wednesday morning.

A team of veterinary doctors rushed to the spot and examined the carcass. "No injury was found on the carcass. The cause of the death can be ascertained after we receive the forensic test report," a vet said.

"The elephant, aged around 28 years, was roaming in the area along with its herd for the past few days. The tea garden authorities had dug the ditch very deep where the animal fell at night. We heard a roar but we didn't come out of home," said Tapan Das, a resident of Rampur village.

The area surrounding Rampur village is an elephant corridor. An elephant was run over by a train there a few months ago.

Residents alleged that the forest beat office is situated nearby and even after noticing the ditch, the forest officials did not take any measure to prevent such incidents.

Forest department workers, police and locals buried the carcass near the village.

Over the past few days, large herds of elephants have been seen in the area. However, this is the first such incident in this elephant corridor.

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Elephant electrocuted by illegal electric fence

An adult male elephant was electrocuted when it came in contact with an illegal electric fencing erected around a farmland in Erathangal village on the periphery of Naickaneri reserve forest (RF) in on Saturday morning.

The incident came to light when the villagers of Erathangal spotted the lifeless body of the elephant. Damodaran, a villager, had taken the piece of land on lease and erected electric fencing to protect the crops from damage by animals such as wild boars. The connection to electrify the fencing was drawn from the supply for the motor pump.

The elephant, aged seven to eight years, had moved to Pernambut range from the Koundenya Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh. It was electrocuted when it came in contact with the electric fencing around the field.

Following this, Dinkar Kumar, conservator of forests, vellore circle, Sumesh Soman, district forest officer, Vellore and Krishnamoorthy, forest range officer of Pernambut inspected the land and conducted an inquiry.

"The elephant comes under Schedule I of the Wildlife Act 1972. We have filed a case under the provisions of the Act and are on the lookout for Damodaran, who has fled after the incident," Mr. Soman said. A postmortem was performed by veterinarian at the spot.

He added that Pernambut range shares border with Andhra Pradesh, and there is frequent movement of elephants. "In Vellore district, Pernambut range is the only area where there is movement of elephants that comes from the sanctuary. As crops are being damaged by wild animals frequently, we are compensating farmers accordingly," he said.

Last year, the department disbursed compensation over Rs 9 lakh. Of this, more than 50% has been given to the farmers in Pernambut range, he said and added that around Rs 4 lakh disbursed to the farmers as compensation for the crop damage this year. Of these, Rs 2 lakh has been given to the farmers in Pernambut.

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Killer jumbo captured, released into forest

COIMBATORE: The 18-year-old rogue elephant that rampaged through the outskirts of the city early on Friday killing four people, injuring an equal number and spreading terror was released into the reserve forest at Anaikundhi near Varagaliyar elephant camp the same night. It had been captured by the forest department in a nine-hour operation. The forest department has deployed more than 20 anti-poaching watchers (APWs) led by a forest ranger at the Anaikundhi area to monitor the tusker.

Initially the department planned to keep the animal in a krawl (a wooden enclosure where captured wild elephants are confined for training) in the Varagaliyar elephant camp. However, after discussions the forest department officials in Chennai discussed with the forest department minister Dindigul C Srinivasan and changed their decisions. They decided to release the animal into the reserve forest side.

The captured male elephant was transported to Varagaliyar elephant camp from Vellalapalayam near Vellalore in Coimbatore and later the elephant was taken five km away in a truck where it was released at around 11.30 pm on Friday.

In June 22, 2016, a wild elephant from Madukkarai was captured and was kept inside the krawl at Varagaliyar where the elephant died after hitting its head in the wooden krawl. Forest department sources said that after the death of Madukkarai Maharaj, the officials decided to release the captured elephant into the reserve forest.

V Ganeshan, Field Director of Anaimalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) told media persons that the department used to provide training to the captured elephant which is below 10 years old. But the captured elephant aged about more than 16-20 year-old and it would very difficult to train the animal. It would not obey the instructions given by mahouts.

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Herd of elephants break open the gates at a Coimbatore School

According to the CCTV grab, it was seen that the security guard was rushing away to inform others, when he saw the wild elephants approaching towards the school gate.

A herd of four elephants broke open the gates of a school campus in Coimbatore, on Saturday evening. This incident was caught live on camera when they were trying to escape, walking one behind the other. They were four in number, including a calf. According to the CCTV grab, it was seen that the security guard was rushing away to inform others, when he saw the wild elephants approaching towards the school gate.

Last month, an elephant broke away the railway level crossing at Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary area in Jalpaiguri dist. in the Doars of West Bengal. The railway line passes through the reserve forest area where the adult male elephant encroached the forest and broke the gate. Staying there for sometime, he returned back to the forest. Chapramari area in Gorumara has over 160 wild elephants that are often spotted in the region, reported PTI. Trains passing through that route were not disrupted.

News of man-animal conflicts have often been reported. A 30-year old man was killed by a wild elephant last month when the poor victim was taking photos of a herd of pachyderms in the forests of Balrampur dist., in Chattisgarh. The deceased was later identified as Naseem Khan.

Another man in Chattisgarh got injured in an accident when local residents of Baskepi village were driving away a herd of 11 elephants, reported PTI. However, the kin of the deceased were given relief amount of Rs 25,000 by the Forest Department. While a compensation amount of Rs 3.75 lakh was disbursed to them within a week.

In 2016, an adult wild elephant entered the Udayagiri hills near Bhubaneswar, thereby breaking the boundary wall. Prior to this incident, the elephant also broke the boundary wall of a school in the wee hours of morning. The elephant came from the Bharatpurpur Reserve Forest.

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