Wild tusker tramples man to death at Kuttampuzha in Kerala’s Kothamangalam
A wild elephant trampled a 40-year-old man to death at Knachary in Kuttampuzha near Kothamangalam in Kerala’s Ernakulam district on Monday night.
A senior citizen was trampled to death by an enraged wild elephant. The elephant was so enraged that it continued to trample him under its feet for quite some time and also kept kicking him. With this, the death toll in elephant attacks has gone up to five in January.
Meanwhile, the forest dept of Rourkela, held a coordination meeting with its counterpart of Jharkhand’s Saranda Division for elephant monitoring and for effective control of timber smuggling. Chatri Kujur(60), of Lalai village under Khaman forest reserve was trampled to death. “We conducted elephant drive last month and our ACF was present with the team,” said DFO Rourkela Sanjay Swain.
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Over 30 forest officials trained in elephant drive took part in it. A small herd consisting of seven elephants is giving a headache to the forest department here and responsible for all the killings under this division. “We had chased them away and they were on their way back into the jungle and subsequently into Saranda of Jharkhand from they had come,” informed the DFO.
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However, Kujur, who had got up to relieve himself came infront of the herd around 5:30 a.m. and was soon lifted by a male elephant and banged on the ground who then started trampling and kicking him, said Swain. Meanwhile, a high level coordination meeting was held between the Rourkela and Saranda Forest Division at DFO Rourkela office.
“The objective of the meeting was to make elephant monitoring more effective,” said Swain. Besides, timber smuggling, which is another cause of worry that was discussed. Some very strategic decisions were taken about timber smuggling, which the DFO did not want to disclose.
He said, “We are going to work in proper coordination to check this growing menace.” Meanwhile, Kujur’s family has been given a sum of Rs. 20,000 towards cremation. The family will also receive Rs. 4 lakhs from government once the RI report comes, informed the DFO.
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