Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 6 (BPNS)
A tribal hamlet near the famous Sabarimala temple in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district is facing threats from wild animals including leopards, elephants, bears, bison, and deadly poisonous snakes like cobra’s.
430 families in Kombukuthi tribal village near Koruthodu in the Pathanamthitta district are fearing for their lives due to attacks by wild animals. While no life has been lost in recent times due to attacks by animals, people are under constant threat over the presence of wild animals.
Sujatha, a tea tapping worker at the Kombukuthi village while speaking to BPNS said, “ When we were going for our job early in the morning at 6 am, a leopard came charging towards us and our colleague, Mohan suffered a slight injury in the attack of the leopard.”
She said that 30 domestic dogs were killed by leopard after dragging them out from their homes. Sujatha says,” A King Cobra was spotted near 50 meters from our colony and we alerted the forest department and the officials reached the spot and caught the 12 feet long snake.”
Panchayath member and CPM leader, M.S. Sunitha said that a group of elephants are roaming around near the residential premises and had recently destroyed a grocery shop in the area. The shop was totally destroyed and agriculture crops are also being destroyed on a day-to-day basis.
Forest officials have now installed CCTV cameras a couple of days before to trace the movement of wild animals. N. G. Jayakumar, an Erumely forest range officer while speaking to BPNS said, “ We suspect the presence of leopards in this area. However, we could not get any information on them even after installing the CCTV cameras.”
CPM local leader and Panchayath member, M. Suresh while speaking to BPNS said, “ We need more forest staff to be employed in this area and to try and trap the leopard that is roaming in the area killing dogs and other domestic animals. We are living under constant threat of attack from herds of elephants. 430 Hindu Malarayar community families are inhabitants of this area and we are tribal people and urge the forest department to somehow end this menace.”
However, forest range officer Jayakumar said that solar fences are installed in the area to prevent the entry of wild elephants into the tribal hamlet. He also said that four watchers are deployed to do night patrol in the area during the nights to wade off the threat of leopards.
The 430 tribal families have already complained to the district collector and other officials to get them protected from the attack of wild animals. Suresh also said that the Panchayath will be complaining to the Chief Minister’s office also regarding the threat of life and properties by the attack from wild animals.
