Wild elephant attacks man in Kerala

WAYANAD: A man sustained minor injuries after a wild elephant attacked him at Sulthan Bathery town in this hilly district of Kerala in the early hours of Friday.

A video of the elephant taking a stroll through the streets of Sulthan Bathery near here and attacking a pedestrian has gone viral.

The presence of the jumbo in the town forced the district administration to clamp prohibitory orders in 10 divisions of the municipality.

In the video, the female elephant was seen walking through the Bathery streets at around 2.30 AM today. The video also showed the elephant hitting a pedestrian, Subairkutty who was walking through the town, with its trunk after which he was seen falling down.

''The elephant attacked the man who suffered minor injuries. It also attacked a jewellery shop causing minor damages. Currently the officials are tracking the location of the elephant,'' a senior district administration official told PTI.

The official said the elephant has a radio collar and the forest officials are in the process of tracking the animal.

The district administration is also in the process of getting approval to tranquilize the elephant. Sources also said that the forest officials have identified the elephant as the one which had recently created problems in the human inhabited area of Tamil Nadu forest.