Wild gaur falls into well, dies

Carcass of wild gaur being kept for post mortem at Kovil Athupatti at Paganatham Panchayat near Vadamadurai in Dindigul district on Saturday.

Four-year-old wild gaur that fell into the ground level farm well died at Kovil Athupatti village at Paaganatham panchayat in Vadamadurai block near Thoppanasamy hill forest range near here on Saturday. Acute water crisis was the prime reason for the incident.

Earlier, the wild animal invaded a hut and attacked two out of eight persons who were sleeping inside. S. Sankan (60) and P. Siva Sankar, native of Kovil Athupatti were injured.

Sankan was admitted to the Dindigul Government Hospital for treatment. After the attack, the gaur ran into a farm owned by P. Sankan, another farmer, and fell into a 40-foot deep open well. Six others had managed to escape.

With poor storage in the well, the gaur fell on the rocky surface and succumbed to fatal injuries. The fire service personnel in association with local people pulled out the carcass. After post mortem, the carcass was buried.

Acute water crisis

Acute water shortage has not only coerced people in rural and urban areas to run from pillar to post for water but also intensified man-animal conflicts, forcing wild animals to raid new residential areas in plains to quench their thirst.

With no water in forest streams and lack of water holes, wild animals have starting storming into villages that were far off from reserve forests. Senthurai and Senkurichi were new areas come under such attacks by them.

Villagers said that there was no animal movement so far. Earlier, their movement was restricted within forests, 10 km away from these villages.

But now, they were sighted in the area frequently.

Besides human disturbances, water shortage has been haunting wild animals, particularly Indian guar and elephants on lower Palani hills, Sirumalai and Kodaikanal.