COIMBATORE: A 73-year-old man died in a wild elephant attack at Kalathukkadu near Narasipuram on Tuesday. According to forest sources, K Chinnakutti, a resident of Indira Colony, was attacked by the elephant at 4.30 am when he went to relieve himself in the open, at the rear side of an engineering college at Periyasami Grove.
However, his family members claimed that he went to Kalathukkadau to collect fodder for their goats.
Following the information, a team of forest staff visited the spot and found that the man was dead and sent his body for postmortem to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. According to a forest official, “No one saw the incident. We confirmed that Chinnakutti was killed by an elephant following the animal's footprint and there is a high chance that the animal trampled him. The elephant could have been attracted to the smell of the maize, cultivated in Periyasami grove.”
Boluvampatti forest range officer T Suseendranath handed over interim compensation of `50,000 to the family. 14 deaths occurred due to the wild elephant attack in 2022 and 12 people were killed due to wild elephants attack in seven forest ranges in Coimbatore forest division so far this year. As a result, one human death is reported each month in 2023.
Out of 12 incidents, five people were killed in the Coimbatore forest range and three deaths were reported at the Periyanacikenpalayam forest range. Likewise, two deaths in the Boluvampatti forest range and each human death was reported in the Madukkarai and Sirumugai forest range.
“Since it is peak migration season, we are facing difficulties in monitoring the animals, as they are entering farmlands after crossing the small streams in Noyyal River. We will appoint more staff and prevent further incidents,” said the forest ranger.
Speaking to TNIE, DFO N Jayaraj said, “As part of creating awareness, we have appointed four to five teams for every forest range since its peak migratory season.”