Elephant tramples man to death in Vizianagaram  

VIZIANAGARAM: In yet another incident of man-animal conflict, an annoyed elephant attacked a 47-year-old farmer R Laxminaidu and trampled him to death on Friday morning at Parasurampuram village in Komarada mandal. 

The elephant (Hari) got separated from its herd comprising five elephants on Thursday night and strayed into the outskirts of the village this morning.

The jumbo came across Laxminaidu working in his fields and attacked him. Even before he could make any move to escape, the elephant trampled him to death. 

Onlookers informed the police, who rushed to the spot. Half of the compensation of Rs 5 lakh (Rs 2.5 lakh) was handed over to the deceased’s family. The remaining sum will be given to the family’s legal heir in the form of a fixed deposit, police said. 

Vizianagaram District Forest Officer (DFO) Sachin Gupta told TNIE, “We drove the herd into the reserve forest area and, after his escapade, Hari found his way there after midnight. Hari had killed another elephant in a fierce fight on August 12. It is normal that behavioural changes occur in the elephants when they get separated from the herd, which leads to frequent attacks.” It may be mentioned here five persons were killed by wild elephants in Vizianagaram in the past two years. Out of five, four were killed by Hari alone. 

“We have deployed additional forces to prevent further loss of life. Elephant trackers were also deployed to alert the people of nearby villages,” Gupta added.