COIMBATORE: At 9.30 pm on Friday, a five-member family was stunned to see two uninvited guests, devouring a ‘Classic’ south Indian dinner at their residence inside Thadagam North forest area. A couple of hungry elephants entered the house at Classic village near Thippanur by breaking open a (French) window and started consuming the leftover idlis, sambar, boiled rice, and rasam.
The occupants of the house, which include a nine-year-old, could not even alert the forest officials till the animals left, as the mobile phone was placed in the common area where the elephants were dining.
R Vasanth (42), who stays in the house with his wife, child and parents, said, “While two adult elephants entered the house, a calf remained outside. The jumbos initially had leftover idly from the dining hall and then moved to the kitchen while we rushed to the bedroom.”
Vasanth claimed the animals later had boiled rice, sambar, and rasam from the kitchen and spilt it all over the place. “They drank around 20 litres of water from a can, ate around 5 kg of tomatoes, and a few apples and oranges placed on the dining table. The table was also damaged,” he added. According to the family, the elephants spent around one hour at the house before getting back to the forest.
However, this is not the family’s first encounter with the jumbos, said Vasanth. In November 2022, a wild elephant damaged the vehicles parked in front of the same house. Vasanth alleged Coimbatore forest division officials did not provide any compensation for the damage. “This time, doors, windows, and table worth over Rs 1 lakh have been damaged,” he said.
Official sources said the house is located just 400 m from the forest, on the regular route of the elephants. An official said the department faced difficulties in monitoring the animals as there were five herds at different locations within the Coimbatore forest range.