NILGIRIS: A 50-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Masinagudi on Moyar Road in the Singara forest range of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Friday morning.
The deceased was Manikandan, a daily wage labourer and resident of Masinagudi on Moyar Road. The incident occurred when he was walking alone to a nearby tea shop on Moyar Road at 5.30am.
The elephant came out of a thicket, attacked him, and trampled him to death. The animal subsequently went inside the forest. Hearing his screams, locals arrived but he had died by then. Residents demanded the forest department to clear bushes as they have grown more than 10 feet, preventing them from noticing elephants. A group of residents surrounded the staff of the Singara forest range and sought protection for their lives. They claimed there have been several incidents when elephants chased them and they escaped miraculously. However, this is the first incident an elephant killed one among them.
Manikandan’s body was given to his kin on Friday evening after postmortem at the Udhagamandalam Government Hospital. Forest department sources said that they had been watching the elephant for the last few months.
“Soon after getting information from the residents, we used to chase it back inside the forest. However, this is the first time it attacked a person. Manikandan had poor hearing and came close to the animal,” the sources claimed.