ERODE: A female wild elephant came out of the forest and entered a village in Bargur hills on Saturday night allegedly in search of water. Though villagers managed to chase the animal back into the forest, they urged the forest department to take steps to prevent elephants from entering human habitation for food and water.
According to sources, around 10 pm on Saturday, a wild elephant entered Durusanampalayam village and started drinking water from a tank in front of a house.
Spotting the elephant, the villagers gathered and raised loud noises which made the elephant go away. Before leaving, the female elephant broke the plastic water tank.
T Pandi, a villager, said, “As soon as we saw the jumbo we honked our horns at it and burst crackers. After this the elephant left from there. The elephant came there to drink water. The forest department should take appropriate action to prevent elephants from leaving the forest for drinking water.”
“There is water in ponds in Bargur forest now. However, the elephant entered into the village. It did not harm anyone. When we got to the spot, the elephant was heading towards the forest. We are monitoring the area,” said a forest officer of Bargur range.
A senior official of the forest department said, “In most of the forest ranges in Erode district, water bodies inside forests have dried up due to intense heat. We are artificially creating tanks and filling them with water to prevent wild animals from coming out of the forest in search of water. However, in a few places, such incidents are happening.”
“For example, at Sathyamangalam range, we fill four tanks and one pond twice a week for the wildlife. Water tanks have been set up at seven places in TN Palayam forest range. We fill those tanks three times a week. A load of water costs up to `4,500. Now due to temple festivals and high demand, the price of water has gone up. Besides, water truck owners are reluctant to drive into the forest. However, we are filling the tanks with water by convincing them. We bear the cost of the water. In some places NGO’s lend a helping hand,” the officer added.