A herd of wild elephants that strayed into various human habitats near Meenangadi in Wayanad district on Friday morning triggered panic among local people.
Forest Department sources said a herd of five elephants, including three tuskers, had entered a village at Karyambadi from the Neykuppa section of forest in the South Wayanad forest division, around 10 km from the village. The herd was sighted inside a private coffee plantation at Karyambadi around 5.30 a.m. A team of forest officials led by Chethalayath Forest Range Officer R. Ratheesan reached the spot.
The animals then entered some thickly populated areas, including Karyambadi, Karani and Chomadi, raising anxiety among people. They intruded into adjoining Puthoor and Arimula villages despite attempts by forest officials to scare them away by bursting crackers and beating drums.
The elephants, however, did not raid crops. No destruction of property was also reported. Also, the elephants did not try to attack anybody, except for a cow on their way to forest at Poothadi.
After 10 hours of chase, the team managed to send two elephants into the Pathiri reserve forest, nearly 11 km away from Karyambadi. The remaining three elephants were staying inside a coffee plantation at Poothadi. Efforts to chase the remaining elephants away to the Manthadam reserve forest would continue in the night, South Wayanad forest divisional officer B. Ranjith Kumar said.
