2 kumkis arrive to chase tusker into forest

Coimbatore: A day after a 55-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant, kumkis Bharani and Suyambu were brought to the reserve forest behind Monkey Falls on Monday morning to drive away the lone tusker into the forest.
On Sunday, fear gripped Navamalai tribal settlement after a 55-year-old man was found trampled to death by a wild elephant. There were reports that a seven-year-old boy was also trampled to death by the wild elephant on Friday. Villagers immediately informed the forest department about the wild elephant.
The two kumkis were brought from Varakaliyar camp in Topslip. The forest department has advised all the villagers to move to a shelter run by Tangedco at Aliyar.
“We have asked villagers not to step out of their houses after dark and spend their nights in the shelter instead of their thatched houses,” Pollachi district forest officer Marimuthu said.
“We have requested the tribals to stay in the shelter for the next two weeks,” he added.
Forest officers say the lone elephant does not seem to be violent.
“The elephant attacked the 55-year-old man because while forest officers were blocking it on one side to try chasing it into the forest, the man threw stones at the mammal from the other side. The elephant instantly got agitated and charged at the man,” the DFO said.
On Monday night, the two kumkis were taken to locations where the lone elephant was spotted. “We will try using the kumkis to scare the elephant deeper into the reserve forest. If the elephant is chased and pushed inside the forest continuously for a fortnight, it is likely to go inside on its own or change directions,” said the DFO.
“The elephant was spotted only once after the kumkis arrived,” he added.