Elephant tramples 80-year-old man to death in Tamil Nadu (Coimbatore, India)

Author(s)

Pratiksha Ramkumar|, Times of India.

Date Published

An 80-year-old tribal man was trampled to death by a wild elephant in
the Madukkarai range forest on in Tamil Nadu on Thursday morning. The
body was found on Friday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Karatti Sadayan of Mavuthampathi.
The man had gone into the forests to pluck leaves and herbs for his
domestic animals, said Madukkarai range officer M Senthil Kumar.

“From what the villagers have told us so far, Karatti wandered into
the forests around 9.30am on Thursday to pluck leaves, herbs and food
for his domestic animals,” he said. “When he did not return, the
tribals began searching for him in the forests in the evening and
through the night, but did not find him,” he said. “Our officers found
his body in the morning,” he said.

He said Karatti migh have been attacked by a lone male tusker that had
crossed over into the state from Kerala. The tusker was recently seen
roaming around in the forests near Pudhupadhi village.

“We suspect that the man must have walked or turned up opposite the
elephant, prompting the mammal to believe that he was blocking its
path or trying to attack it,” said the officer.

“Usually tribals know how handle an elephant movement nearby and never
be found opposite it, but Karatti, due to his age, may not have seen
or heard the elephant immediately,” he said.

About 70% of the anti-poaching watchers recruited by the forest
officers are tribals because they are used to entering and moving
around the forest and wild animals, said another forest officer.

The Chavady police was informed of the incident, and the body was
retrieved and sent to the government hospital for a postmortem.

“The district forest officer has ordered us to dispense a relief
amount of Rs 50,000 to the man’s aged wife as soon as possible,” said
Senthil Kumar.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Elephant-tramples-80-year-old-man-to-death-in-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/55495514.cms