After a brief interval, wild elephants have started straying into human habitations of Palakkad district, creating panic among the local community.
An elephant and her calf reached Mathur village early Tuesday and they roamed across thickly populated areas, raising anxiety among people. They intruded into adjoining Edathara and Parali villages despite attempts of forest officials to scare them away by bursting crackers and sounding huge drums.
The elephants are roaming around the Mathur temple in the evening hours and forest officials and police officers keep a close watch on them. Fortunately, the elephants have not raided crops. No destruction of property was reported during the entire day. The two elephants have also not attempted to attack anybody.
According to local people, the two elephants are part of a group of six which created panic in the forest-fringe villages of Palakkad and Thrissur districts during August-September last. The mother elephant used to frequent Mathur village last November.
According to forest officials, the elephants had moved into human habitations early in the morning after spending a few days in the nearby Mundur forests.
It was only two weeks ago that a woman from Salem in Tamil Nadu was trampled to death by a wild elephant near Malampuzha. She was working in a brick kiln. Crop raids by wild elephants had been reported from Kongad, Mundur, Malampuzha, Kanjikode, Pudussery, and Walayar for the last two weeks.
Eastern Attappady is also witnessing large-scale crop raids by wild elephants. The elephants are moving into human habitations owing to large- scale destruction of forest habitats. Drying up of water sources inside the forests and lack of required fodder prompt them to move out.
Primitive means
Meanwhile, farmers are demanding setting up of a permanent kumki elephant camp in Palakkad to drive away the wild elephants from the human settlements. Other than bursting crackers and sounding drums, forest officials in the district have no other mechanism to scare away elephants. Solar fences aimed at preventing crop raids by elephants do not work because of lack of proper maintenance.
New solar fencings are required at Walayar, Malampuzha, Pangode, Irumbakachola, Kalladikode, and Palakkayam as per estimates of the Forest Department. An SMS-based system alerting the presence of wild elephants is also needed to be strengthened across the eastern regions.
