COIMBATORE: Residents of Bommalapalayam, a small village in Sirumugai, were in for a shock on Thursday evening after two wild elephants entered their fields and loitered from 4 pm on Thursday.
Residents stayed indoors and the streets of the village wore a deserted look.
The forest officers managed to guide the elephants, back into Pethikuttai forests at around 4.45pm on Friday, but the elephants injured two senior citizens gravely and two cows within 24 hours.
District forest officer Venkatesh Durairaj said, "Forest staff first noticed two male elephants coming out of the Pethikuttai forest on Thursday evening. The staff managed to chase the mammals back until the Anjaneyar Kovil Karadu, where they lost sight of them. However, on Friday early in the morning, two elephants were again spotted 9 km away from the Sirumugai in a village called Bommalapalayam. From then, the staff have been trying to guide it back to the Pethukuttai reserve forest."
Around 25 forest staff, including assistant conservator of forests M Senthil Kumar, landed at the spot within a few hours and began advising people to stay indoors as much as possible and be alert of any movement around them if they had to be outdoors.
“The two elephants, aged 20, had strayed almost 20-25 km away from their usual path. They did not raid any farms, though they were walking through banana and maize farms,” he said.
“From 4 pm, with our guidance the elephants slowly began walking towards the forest and entered it by 4.45 pm,” he added.
“The two injured senior citizens, including a 80-year-old man named Palani from Chittepalayam, and an old woman, who we suspect dint hear our loudspeaker announcements. They have been given first aid and moved to CMCH,” said Senthil Kumar.
“Both the injured cows bore sutures and were treated by the animal husbandry department and are healthy so far,” he added.