Tamil Nadu: Three tribal men attack wild elephants in Udumalpet, booked

TIRUPUR: The forest department has registered a case against three men from the Thirumurthymalai tribal settlement in Udumalpet forest range under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 for attacking wild elephants on Wednesday. The department has formed a team to nab them.
Several videos that went viral on social media on Thursday showed the men throwing stones at elephants and beating them with sticks. “Preliminary inquiry revealed that P Selvam, 32, T Kalimuthu, 25 and J Arunkumar, 30, were herding cattle when they saw two elephants and a calf. They tried to shoo away the animals and threw stones at them. When the elephants charged towards them, the men ran away and again attacked the animals using sticks and stones. Their friends, who sought refuge atop trees, recorded the scene using mobile phones,” an official said.
A team led by assistant director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) Ganeshram visited the tribal settlement on Thursday morning to nab the trio. “But they had escaped to the reserve forest to evade arrest. We met the head of the settlement and asked him to hand over the men to the department. He has agreed to do that,” the official said. “We also warned the tribal people against attacking wild animals.”