COIMBATORE: A 40-year-old woman was killed in a wild elephant attack near her residential quarters at Baram estate near O'Valley in Gudalur forest division on Friday night.
This is the second human death due to a wild elephant attack in the Gudalur forest division in two days. On Thursday morning a tea stall owner (46) was trampled to death by another jumbo.
The deceased, identified as Maalu alias Mumtaj, was attacked while she was returning home with her husband from her relative's house at 9 pm on Friday. Her husband escaped from the animal.
Over 100 residents led by Gudalur MLA Pon Jayaseelan staged a road blockade protest in front of the Gudalur government hospital where police had taken the deceased's body for postmortem seeking to capture the wild elephant on Saturday morning.
People refused to allow the forest department staff for more than four into Gudalur GH.
Pon Jayaseelan said they have requested the officials to capture the animal by June 3 and come up with a permanent solution to avoid more such deaths. Protesters demanded both the elephants be captured and taken to Theppakkadu elephant camp.
Gudalur DFO Kommu Omkaram said both incidents are accidental encounters and so far two people were killed in the division this year. "We have instructed the people to remove jackfruit plantations since the elephants attracted by the smell enter the residential area."
Gudalur forest department officials had deployed two kumki elephants from Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) both in Aarattuparai and Baram areas to prevent the wild elephants from entering the residential area.