The elephant which strayed into Peringottukurissi Mudappulli. Photo: OnmanoramaThrissur: A family outing of three wild elephants into the thickly populated villages in the border areas of Thrissur and Palakkad districts is giving sleepless nights to the people there for the past few days. Though the local people, police and forest officials tried all possible means to drive the elephants back into the forest, the animals are not in a mood to move back. The small herd, including a tusker, a female and a calf, is having a good time foraging on the crops in the plantations and homesteads in the locality. In between, the pachyderms even took a dip in the Bharatappuzha River nearby.
After long strenuous efforts, the people managed to shove the animals away from the thickly populated areas of Peringottukurussi. Now, the elephants are in Bharatappuzha River between Palappuram and Koothampulli. The police and forest officials are trying hard to chase the wild animals into the forests of Ottappalam-Palappuram area.
The herd, which created scare in Peringottukurissi, reached the Bharatappuzha River through Thiruvilvamala in Thrissur district. People have thronged both the banks of the river, waiting with baited breath for the next move of the elephants. Meanwhile, the police clamped prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPc to disperse people assembled at Koothampully.
Fire crackers are the only option to force the elephants to move away from the human habitats in the situation, according to forest officials. They dismissed the option of using tranquilizers altogether as there are three animals in the herd. The elephants are likely to turn violent and create havoc in the area if the animals get shot by tranquilizers.
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Wild elephants refuse to go back to forest
A family outing of three wild elephants into the thickly populated villages near Thrissur-Palakkad border is giving sleepless nights to the people there. Photo: Jeejo John
The authorities had informed the local people that the animals that forayed into the human habitats in Mundur and nearby areas had been driven back to forests the other day. But the elephants came back on Monday. All the attempts to scare away the elephants turned futile. The herd was spotted again at the border areas of Thrissur district on Tuesday morning. Forest and police officials are camping in the locality. A team of experts from Muthanga has also arrived in the location. They are adept at handling wild elephants that stray into the human habitats.
Terror come calling
The same elephants that had unleashed a reign of terror at Mundur and Parali in Palakkad district advanced menacingly towards the local people and forest officials at Mankurissi and nearby areas. The elephants came down to Mankurissi on 4 August. The animals covered a distance of over 30 kilometers, crossing the Palakkad-Kozhikode National Highway to Mankurissi. They were spotted in a paddy field near the road at the dawn. Later, by morning, the elephants trespassed into a private property of over four acres filled with huge trees.
When the police and forest officials reached the spot after being alerted by the locals, the elephants had already shattered the fencing of a property nearby. Then they moved to the next settlement- Koorath Colony. After quenching their thirst from there, the elephants went back to the private property and stood there for hours together. Amidst this commotion they also came charging towards forest officials who had a close shave.
Later, the elephants pulled off huge tree trunks and threw them at the 11 KV electric lines passing through the area. Sensing the danger, the authorities immediately cut off the power supply to the area. By 3.30 pm, the people set off crackers. Hearing the sound, the animals moved to a thicket nearby, but after a while, came back to the same place. When people again tried to scare them away, the elephants went to the premises of a tile company at Thenoor. By then the elephants were forced to move half the distance towards the forest five kilometers away. Forest department had informed next day that they managed to, with great difficulty though, push the animals back into the forest.
Walking all the way to villages
Hardly before the people in the area could get a sound sleep without the fear of the wild elephants, the animals came back by crossing the National Highway and the Bharatapuzha River. This time, they strayed into the area from Thenoor to Peringottukurissi Mudappulli. The elephants destroyed the standing crops at Thenoor on Sunday night and then crossed the Bharatapuzha River to reach Mudappullithara at 6.45 am on Monday via Kalikavu, Puthalakkad and Chendankadu. This place is 30 kilometres away from Mundur-Dhoni forest ranges, known as the abode of elephants.
Though the elephants passed through many villages to reach Mundur, they did not harm the houses on the way. When a crowd gathered, the animals stopped by a vacant plot with full of trees. The authorities declared holiday for the schools nearby following the elephant scare. The animals, which stood nonchalant at the sound of the fire crackers, moved to a bamboo grove by the afternoon through houses and started foraging on the green. On the way, they razed the compound wall of a house. By evening, the animals forayed in to the paddy field near Mudappulli Bhagavati Temple. After a while, they returned to the property near the temple again.
The elephants, which came out of the forests early morning on last Friday, crossed the Palakkad-Kozhikode National Highway to reach Mundur. Later, they crossed Palakkad-Kulappully State Highway and reached Mankurussi. When they were driven back to the forest from Mankurussi, the animals went back to Dhoni forest region through Ayyarmala-Mundur. But when somebody set the fire crackers off after spotting the animals, they returned to the villages, the forest officials claimed.
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