Fear grips villagers as elephant herd destroys houses, trees

A portion of the house that was damaged by the herd of elephants at Poochiyur village near Narasimhanaickenpalayam in Coimbatore District on Wednesday.

A herd of 14 elephants, including two calves and two adult males, left villagers of Poochiyur near Narasimhanaickenpalayam gripped in fear as the herd went on a rampage damaging banana, coconut trees and a portion of houses in the early hours of Wednesday.

The village is located at the foot hills of Kurudimalai close to the forest near the CRPF training institute. The herd entered the agricultural land of G. Gopalasamy at Ravutha Kollanur near Poochiyur and damaged around 180 banana trees.

Later they moved into the village and damaged the walls, slabs in front of the house and portions of the metal gates and also furniture in the houses of H. Krishnappan and N. Murugesan.

The jumbos also ate a stock of rice that was kept in the veranda of a house before entering another house.

The villagers remained indoors and informed people in nearby localities about their plight. They in turn informed the forest department personnel who rushed to the spot. It took about an hour for the forest department personnel to lit fireworks and chased the herd back to the forest.