COIMBATORE: In a tragic incident, a 37-year-old tribal man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Gudalur in Nilgiris district on Sunday night. Subramani alias Maran (37) of Kurumbarpadi near Gokkal was returning home at around 11.15pm when the pachyderm attacked him. After he screamed in pain, people nearby rushed him to Gudalur government hospital where he was given first aid. When he was taken to Udhagamandalam government hospital for further treatment, he died on the way.
Sources in the Gudalur forest department said they have handed over initial compensation of `50,000 to Subramani’s family and would release `3.5 lakh soon.
District Forest Officer P K Dileep asked people to remain cautious and avoid walking in places where elephant movement is high. Their movement, he said, has increased as they keep coming out in search of water.
Meanwhile, a 55-year-old woman was injured in wild elephant attack near Periya Thadagam in the early hours of Monday. K Sellathaal was attacked by a jumbo when she came out of her house at about 2.30am.
Ranger S Suresh said the woman is undergoing treatment at a private hospital as she suffered a fracture in her hand upon being shoved by the elephant which also damaged banana crops. Despite being warned against going anywhere near the elephants, people refused to budge, he added.
Meanwhile, the officials of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) has formed a 14-member team to track a sloth bear that is said to have strayed into the Masinagudi bazaar on Sunday night.
“The CCTV footage with the Masinagudi police has captured the bear near the station. It might have taken shelter near the residential areas or in the forest in the daytime and entered the bazaar at night. The sloth bear will be trapped and released into the wild,” Singara forest range officer S Kanthan
said.