Two wild elephants spotted camping outside tribal school near Marudhamalai temple

CHENNAI: Merely days after forest officials cautioned devotees of wild elephant movement in the region, two wild elephants were seen camping outside a tribal boarding school located near the Subramaniya Swamy temple at Marudhamalai in Coimbatore, as reported by Daily Thanthi.

Thousands of devotees from several parts of the state visit the legendary Murugan temple in Marudhamalai to offer prayers daily. The tribals living in the region often eke out a living by selling handmade jewellery to the devotees who come to the temple. In an effort to provide education to the children from these tribal families, the government has set up a boarding school for up to Class 5 in the locality.

In the recent past, there have been several reports of more than 10 wild elephants from the nearby forest loitering around the temple area and camping on the steps leading to the temple. As a result, officials from the forest department had cautioned devotees to refrain from visiting the temple after 6 pm.

Following this, on Thursday night, two wild elephants were seen camping outside the boarding school in Marudhamalai hoping to forage for some food.

Passersby took videos of the elephants on their phones and sent them to the forest department after which some senior forest officials arrived at the spot and guided the elephants back into the nearby forest.