Giving anxious moments to the forest department staff, a herd of six elephants that drifted from the Javadi Hills has returned to Salem Forest Division after it moved intoDharmapuri forests a fortnight ago.
The herd entered the fringes of Aranganur, a village near Mecheri, last night and had been camping at the Kamaneri Lake. According to unconfirmed reports, one of the elephants in the herd chased after a girl child when she was on her way to school. But forest department officials said that the girl ran in panic after seeing the herd and fell down. A large team of officials were camping near the spot and monitoring the situation.
Forest officials said they were yet to ascertain the reason for the herd’s retreat and its marked disinclination to enter its territory of origin. While crop raiding urge was suspected, the herd had not entered fields in Aranganur village so far.