A herd of elephants reportedly damaged a house at Munda Kunnu in Marapalam near Gudalur in an apparent bid to rescue a calf that strayed into the house on Thursday night.
When the calf entered the tiled house by pushing open the door on Thursday night, the occupants, a widow, Jayalakshmi, and her children managed to escape through the back door.
They then raised an alarm and ran to the safety of a neighbour’s house. Within minutes, a herd of elephants stormed into the house and left the spot accompanied by the calf.
Female Elephant Found Dead
A 15-year-old female elephant was found dead on a private estate in Pakkanna village in Bitherkaud range near Gudalur on Friday.
The jumbo was among a herd that strayed into the estate on Thursday night, Forest Department sources said. After getting stuck between a narrow gap between two trees, it struggled and fell dead.
Its body was found by estate workers on Friday morning and they subsequently informed forest officials. Ranger Ganesan and veterinarian N S Manoharan rushed to the spot and conducted a postmortem, following which, the carcass was buried there.