ERODE: Forest officials are actively monitoring through a hi-tech drone the movement of a male wild elephant threatening villagers within the Chennampatti forest range near Anthiyur in the Erode district. Though it was driven back into the forest on Thursday, the forest department is maintaining a vigil in response to the public demand.
Sources say a male wild elephant that came out from the Chennampatti forest had been roaming the farmlands and boundaries of villages there for over a week. On Thursday, unlike usual, the elephant entered the Mothangalpudur village. Shocked by this, the villagers alerted the forest department.
A team of forest officials from the Chennapatti range rushed to the village and tried to drive the elephant back into the forest. However, the elephant roamed around in different parts of the village, giving endless work to the forest department personnel for a long time. After a long struggle, the forest department chased the elephant back into the forest on Thursday.
However, the villagers have requested the forest officials to prevent the elephant from entering the farmlands adjacent to the villages again.
Subsequently, a team of forest officials started monitoring the elephant.
A villager was killed in a wild elephant in the area a week ago. However, the forest officials say that this elephant was not behind that incident.
Speaking to TNIE, Erode District Forest Officer (DFO) KV Appala Naidu said, "That elephant comes for crop raid only. Crops that elephants like are cultivated in the farmlands adjacent to the forest. But so far the elephant has not attacked any humans. Also, after being chased back into the forest, the elephant did not come out again on Friday. It was not found in areas adjacent to farmlands on Saturday either."
"However, we are continuing to monitor. We searched for the elephant on Friday and Saturday using a hi-tech drone. The drone can be used for surveillance and also to drive away elephants. At present there is no plan to call kumki elephants for assistance. If the elephant comes out of the forest again, we plan to chase it towards the dense forest area," the DFO added.