COIMBATORE: Animal lovers voiced concerns after a video of forest department officials hurling a firecracker close to an elephant at Nallur Vayal near Karunya Nagar allegedly to chase it away from entering residential area was circulated on social media on Saturday night.
Further, they said the forest department had violated an order of the Madras High Court which banned the use of fire crackers to chase away animals. Responding to this, forest department sources claimed they used crackers not to target the animal but only to protect hundreds of people who had gathered to see it as there was a high chance that the animal might have run towards them.
According to sources, a wild elephant came out of Kalkothi Forest at 8pm on Saturday and tried to enter Nallur Vayal. This prompted forest department staff to use crackers after the vehicle headlight and honking sounds failed to divert it.
A wildlife activist, speaking on the condition of anonymity told TNIE that the elephant could have lost its sight had rocket hit the eye.
“In the video, we can see the animal in fear after the rocket crossed his neck. The Madras High Court had directed the forest department to stop using crackers to chase away elephants.”
A forest department official refuted the charges. He said their intention was not to harm the animal, and our staff burst crackers for the safety of the people and chased away animal safely. “Even the people were pressuring our staff to burst crackers,” the official said.
“The animal came out from the Madukkarai forest range and entered Boluvampatti range. Two staff tried to divert the animal. However, it entered a number of groves and damaged a few banana plantations. We managed to divert the animal only at 1am on Sunday at Kalkothi Forest,” the forest official said.