An 80-year-old woman was killed after she was attacked by a wild elephant at Samichettipalayam near Periyanaickenpalayam in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
Ramathal, wife of Palaniappan, was charged at by one of the three elephants that entered human habitations near Samichettipalayam at about 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
Forest department staff tried to drive the herd of elephants back into the forest. The woman had come out to attend nature’s call. Ramathal fell unconscious after she was pushed down by one of the elephants as they passed through the area. She was rushed to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) where doctors declared her “brought dead”.
A few other places in Coimbatore rural also witnessed movement of elephants in residential areas on Tuesday night and on Wednesday. Tension prevailed at Thendral Nagar near Narasimhanaickenpalayam where a tusker entered a residential area in the early hours of Wednesday. Officials said that the tusker spotted in the area was one of the three elephants that later moved to Samichettipalayam.
Frontline staff of the Forest Department chased back a lone elephant from Attai Company on Athipalayam-Vellamadai Road near Periyanaickenpalayam on Wednesday morning. A lone elephant spotted at Sengalipalayam in Periyanaickenpalayam range, and another in Kandiyoor in Madukkarai range were also driven back to the reserve forest, District Forest Officer N. Satheesh said.
Another woman injured
In a separate incident, Thulasiammal, 70, a resident of Kasthuripalayam, was injured in an attack by a wild elephant that strayed into the residential area in the early hours of Wednesday. She was admitted to the CMCH.
In Mettupalayam range, forest staff who had rescued an elephant calf aged less than one month on Tuesday evening, took it to the Nelllithurai reserve forest area where it was united with a herd of 15 elephants around 1.30 a.m., on Wednesday.
With the migration season and harvesting of crops such as maize beginning, human habitations of Periyanaickenpalayam range have been witnessing the most frequent movement of wild elephants in the entire Coimbatore Forest Division.