NILGIRIS: A 35-year-old man from Andhra Pradesh was killed by a wild elephant at Penstock Kundha near Coonoor on Friday night.
The victim, S Sukunda Rao, was a caretaker at a private farmhouse for six years near Penstock.
The incident occurred at 11.20 pm when the elephant entered a banana plantation. Rao woke up after the animal had damaged the compound wall of the farmhouse and was foraging from the plantation. The elephant attacked him when he approached it.
Following his screams, fellow workers came to his aid and took him to the Nilgiris Medical College and Hospital where he was declared dead.
His body was handed over to his relatives after postmortem. The forest department provided an initial compensation of `50,000 to the man’s family on Saturday.
Elephant found dead in MTR
A 50-year-old female elephant was found dead near Singara Pirivu in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Friday evening. A postmortem conducted on Saturday indicated the animal might have fallen 150 metres from the rocky terrain of the Glenmorgan Town camera grid tower near Singara Pirivu.
Sloth bear movement under watch
Following a report that a 48-year-old woman was injured in a sloth bear attack, the forest department checked her health condition at Gudalur Government Hospital.
The woman was identified as Jansi of Ambalamoola.
“There were no injuries to the woman despite her claim that she was injured in a sloth bear attack. We also examined the site where the incident allegedly took place, and there were no traces of sloth bear movement. However, we are monitoring sloth bear movement based on her statement,” said a forest department official.