NILGIRIS: Despite two kumki elephants, Vasim and Vijay being brought from Theppakkadu elephant camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Friday to drive away a herd of elephants in Koranchal, forest officials were unable to do so for the second consecutive day on Sunday due to bad weather.
One of the elephants of the herd allegedly killed a physically challenged man on September 26.
Cherambadi Forest Range Officer R Ayyanar said, “The elephant did not have any intention to kill Kumar. Since the deceased was physically challenged, he was unable to escape upon noticing the elephants at a close distance due to the misty weather. Our team is struggling to take the kumki elephants to another place from the ground in Cincona estate as the area is slippery due to drizzling.”
Chermbadi is located near Wayanad district in Kerala and the meteorological department has issued a yellow alert to the district. “We have been experiencing misty and drizzling weather throughout the day, hampering our operation to drive away the elephants. Our team located the herd at Dam Pallam in the Bamboo forest as on Sunday evening,” said the official.
The official said they have appointed 12 more field staff including members from the Rapid Response Team (RRT) to prevent the entry of the herd into human habitation to mitigate the human-elephant conflict. Gudalur Forest division has already handed over `5 lakh compensation to the kin of the deceased.