COIMBATORE: Family members of a banana and maize cultivator were left horrified after an elephant broke through their chain-link fence and damaged their crops in Varapalayam near Chinnathadagam in the wee hours on Sunday.
The elephant took away 50 kgs of cattle feed after damaging banana and maize crops at their farm.
Narrating the incident, R Shanmugam (60) said his family members, who moved into the new house four days ago from an adjacent old cement sheet house, were shocked to see the elephant up close after it shattered the roof of their old house.
“The tusker entered our grove after breaking through the chain-link fence at 3 am and damaged our old house. We have stocked cattle feed at our old house. It consumed the bran and oil cakes and also took away 50 kgs of bran,” he said.
Shanmugam said he saw the elephant rushing towards the Ponnuthuamman temple.
The pachyderm barely spent ten to fifteen minutes in the grove, the family members said.
“Seven of our family members saw the tusker only 15 feet away. We did not expect it to move away all of a sudden after we made noise. After we shouted, it went away carrying a bag of bran ,” Shanmugam said.
Forest officials were informed about the incident on Sunday morning. They visited the place for an investigation.