Maharashtra: Elephant kicks & lobs parked car like football in Ajara; villagers put on alert

KOLHAPUR: A wild elephant entered a village in Ajara tehsil of the district and kicked and lobbed a car like a football outside its owner’s house on Friday morning.
The tusker kept on pushing around and smashing the 800CC hatchback as the petrified car owner, Narayan Sardesai, watched the act in horror.
A resident of Kasar Kandgaon village on Chandgad-Ajara road, Sardesai woke up to loud thuds and trumpet sounds around 5am on Friday. “I came out of the house to find a tusker hitting the car from all sides. My daughter had parked the car in front of the house a day earlier. Scared by the sight, I ran inside the house. The rampage continued for more than one-and-a-half hours. The car was overturned three to four times, kicked and smashed. Later, the animal walked back towards the farm in the dark. The car was badly damaged.”
Forest ranger Sanjay Nilkanth said they have spotted elephant stampings in the 50 to 60 feet surrounding area. “The elephant came from the forest area of Chafewadi and went towards the forest area of Kasar Kandgaon. College students travelling on bikes spotted it at 7.30am on Saturday and informed us. We are keeping a watch over the tusker,” Nilkanth said.
Nilkanth said the vehicle had been badly damaged and compensation would be given to the owner as per the forest department's norms.
"Farmers are advised not to go into farmland at night. A forest department vehicle has been deployed to alert people of the adjoining villages about the arrival of tusker through loudspeaker," added Nilkanth.
A forest official said there six tusker elephants were found mainly in the district, mainly in the Ajara and Chandgad regions, and the animals kept migrating towards Bhudargad and Dodamarg in Konkan.
On May 30, a farmer who had gone to supply water to his crops in Bhudargad, nearly 30km from Ajara, had to spend four hours atop tree at night after a tusker chased him. Sugar cane crop spread over 25 gunthas were destroyed by the tusker.