TIRUPATI: A 17-year-old girl, who was safeguarding agriculture fields from wild animals along with her father, was killed in an attack by a wild tusker in Kuppam Mandal of Chittoor district, late last night. The village borders neighbouring Tamil Nadu state and wild tuskers stray into villages from the forest area of the neighbouring State, forest officials said.
The deceased, Sonia, along with her father Murugan slept in their agriculture fields in Parthichenu village under Kuppam Mandal. They raised groundnut crop and were keeping a vigil on wild animals that stray into their agriculture fields and damage crops.
Chittoor Divisional Forest officer Sankar said a lone wild tusker might had entered the village from Tamil Nadu forest area and attacked on the father and his daughter. The village is just 500 metres away from Tamil Nadu forests, said Sankar.
The father-daughter duo woke up to the sounds of the tusker damaging the crop and reportedly tried to protect the crop by driving away from the elephant into the forest. The wild tusker attacked on the duo killing Sonia on the spot and leaving Murugan seriously injured.
Locals shifted the seriously injured Murugan to a local government hospital for treatment.