COIMBATORE:There was an elephant in the room. Literally. A baby one, though, that fell through the roof, right into the dining room. The approximately year-old calf, while standing with its mother, slipped and fell about 10 feet, giving a 3 am scare to residents of the house at Kolipalam, Gudalur. However, sparing them of jumbo trouble, it got up, broke the back door and returned to the forest.
Though no one in the house was injured in the incident on Thursday, Sumaila (30), who was sleeping with her 45-day-old baby, was shocked, and had to be admitted to the Gudalur Government Hospital. “The woman and her child are safe. The elephant calf, which was also shocked, touched Sumaila with its trunk, but she was not injured,” said Gudalur Range Officer P Ganesan, who was informed about the incident around 5 am.
“Three others, including two children, were also in the house. They were in another room when calf fell. All of them are safe.” Forest officials, who are monitoring the calf to find whether it was injured, suspect that it came near the Gudalur-Kozhikode National Highway with its mother, and fell while trying to pick jackfruit.
Separately, a 75-year-old man was injured when an elephant attacked him near Ayyasamy Koil in the Boluvampatty forest range on early Thursday. The victim, R Krishnasamy, of Chellappagoundanpudhur, was attacked when he went out to relieve himself around 3.30 am. “We are informing people in 12 panchayats about the dangers of forest fires and wild elephants,” said a forest official.