Villagers live in fear as lone tusker enters residential area near Coimbatore

Tension in Coimbatore village as lone tusker enters residential area, causing damage before being chased back into forest.

Tension prevailed in a village near Thondamuthur in Coimbatore district on Tuesday night after a lone tusker entered a thickly populated residential area.

Forest Department officials said that the adult male elephant strayed from the nearby forest to Muthipalayam village on Tuesday night. Panicked villagers tried to chase the tusker by making noise from the terrace of their houses.

After losing its way, the elephant broke open the gate of a house and entered the compound. It then tried to scale the compound wall on the opposite side, eventually damaging the structure.

The tusker damaged a few more compound walls while being driven out. Later, the tusker entered a farm in the locality and damaged crops, including banana trees. Frontline staff of the Department managed to chase the elephant back into the forest by 5 a.m.

Villagers demanded the Forest Department to prevent wild elephants from entering villages in and around Thondamuthur, citing recurring incidents of the pachyderms visiting residential areas and farms and also the recent death of a youth, after being trampled by a tusker.

Meanwhile, another tusker came near the main tower of the Marudhamalai Subramaniaswamy Temple. Frontline staff of the Department chased the tusker back into the forest.

In view of frequent and unexpected movement of wild elephants near the temple and at the foothills, frontline staff are camping at the location for swift response.