COIMBATORE: It was a clash of the titans at the temporary kumki campsite at Gudalur forest division in Coimbatore district as wild elephant 'Radhakrishnan' entered the camp, challenged 'Vijay' for a dual, and made a hasty retreat after being beaten thrice in a gap of two hours at the dead of the night on Friday.
According to sources, four elephants --- Shankar, Krishna, Vijay and Srinivasan --- were stationed at the temporary camp on Bharathi Nagar School premises in O-Valley forest range of Gudalur division for the past one week to prevent Radhakrishnan from venturing into residential areas.
The kumki elephants were brought to tame the wild tusker after it allegedly killed a 46-year-old tea stall owner in an accidental encounter at Aarattuparai within the forest range last week.
Around 1 am on Friday, Radhakrishnan, estimated to be 35 years old, entered the camp and approached the 50-year-old Vijay tied to a tree with a rope and started picking up a fight. According to sources, the tuskers weighed around 2,500 kg to 3,000 kg each.
Both the jumbos locked their tusks to prove their dominance, and Vijay suffered an injury to his face. An enraged Vijay aggressively hit Radhakrishnan and pushed back the three-tonne tusker by a few feet. Shaken out of their sleep by the aggressive trumpeting sound of the clashing beasts, mahouts and staff of the camp started shouting to scare away the attacker and alert other kumki elephants.
"We were up all night after the incident. We also checked Vijay's health. We did not expect Radhakrishnan to come back, but to our surprise it came back again after 30 minutes and started a fight with Vijay. Unable to face Vijay's onslaught for the second time, Radhakrishnan fled the spot only to return for the third time after an hour This time the wild elephant didn't have the guts to venture near Vijay and simply ran away after hearing Vijay's rumblings. We couldn't spot Radhakrishnan after that. We suspect he may be roaming in fear after being attacked by Vijay," sources said.
Theppakkadu assistant veterinary surgeon K Rajesh Kumar, who checked Vijay on Friday morning, said there were no major injuries to him.