Seventy small coconut trees, about a dozen banana trees, compound walls and a water tank were among the properties damaged by a herd of 18 elephants that went on a rampage for nearly six hours at Chinnagounden Pudur near Vedavalli Thottam in Ettimadai on Wednesday night. The herd also feasted on sacks of fodder and a sizeable share of maize crop plantation.
The herd entered agricultural lands of farmers N. Padmanabhan (60), A. Krishnadurai (51), R. Mayilsamy (54) and A. Krishnasamy (61) around 11.50 p.m. on Wednesday and were chased back to the forest around 6 a.m. with the help of Forest Department personnel.
“We spent a sleepless night and moved to the first floor of the house fearing that the herd would enter the house,” Padmanabhan said. The herd damaged 70 coconut trees, his compound wall and shed where fodder and other farm inputs were stored.
A labourer in his farm K. Aruchamy (65) narrowly escaped. On seeing the elephants surrounding the shed where he was sleeping, he hurried to the top of the shed and hid himself between the tiled roof and the wooden frame.
After an intensive drive for nearly five hours, the forest personnel from Madukkarai and farmers burst firecrackers and chased them for about two km to Modamathi around 6 a.m. Farmer Krishnadurai said that two or three elephants used to come to their lands and cause minor damage. “For the first time, a big herd has come and made us helpless,” he said.
The forest personnel said that it was the same herd that had been moving around in that locality from last Saturday.
It was a 16-member herd when it entered Madukkarai on Saturday. The moments of elephants’ day out was captured by wildlife photographer Gunasekaran.
