80-yr-old trampled to death in Coimbatore

Forest department officials said Ponnammal, wife of Nanjan from Kondanur Pudur, had gone to attend nature’s call around 6 am when a wild elephant came her way. The jumbo had strayed out of the nearby forest.

Panicking, the elderly woman took to her heels. However, the jumbo chased and caught her by its trunk. She was flung to the ground and then trampled by the animal resulting in her death on the spot.

On receiving information about the incident, the forest department personnel and police rushed to the spot and chased away the elephant by bursting fire crackers. The body of the woman was then retrieved and sent for a post-mortem examination at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).

In another incident, a herd of four wild elephants strayed into farms near Anthiyur in Erode district and damaged tapioca, plantain and corn plantations in a few farms.

After raiding the farms for a few hours, the herd wandered on the Viralikattur Road causing disturbance to the smooth flow of traffic. Local farmers then drove away the elephants into the forest using a fire torch (theepandam).

The farmers claimed that elephant intrusions in the area have increased over the last one month, as the pachyderm are forced to stray into human habitations in search of fodder and drinking water. “The Forest department should dig trenches and set up solar fence to prevent wild elephants from straying out of forests,” they demanded.