Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 12 (BPNS)
An estate canteen supervisor at Panniyar in the Idukki district of Kerala escaped by a whisker from the attack of a wild elephant late night on Saturday.
The wild elephant nicknamed ‘Arikomban’ by the forest department has the habit of intruding into the Shanthanpara and adjacent areas of Idukki district, damaging shops especially ration shops and eating rice. Rice in Malayalam is ‘Ari’ and hence the animal is nicknamed ‘Ari Komban’.
Forest officials told BPNS that the supervisor of the Panniyar estate canteen in Idukki was sleeping in the canteen when the elephant broke open the canteen door in search of food. On seeing the elephant, Edwin ran away from the spot but the elephant chased the canteen supervisor.
Edwin, according to forest officials ran for his life and entered into a small lane through which the elephant could not enter and escaped from the wild tusker.
The ration shops in the Panniyar and Shanthanpara areas were electric fenced of late following the regular attack of the wild elephant ‘Ari Komban’ who broke open these ration shops and eats rice.
As the ration shops were electric fenced, the elephant tried to enter the labour canteen in search of rice and found Edwin.
The Kerala Forest department has already constituted a task force led by Dr. Arun Zakariah to dart the elephant and rehabilitate it following protests by farmers and shopkeepers regarding the frequent attacks from the elephant.
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