Chennai, Sep 26 : In a tragic incident, a man was trampled to death by a wild elephant during the early hours of Thursday in Cherambady village of the Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu.

The deceased was identified as Kunhimoideen of the same village. Forest department officials told IANS that the incident occurred at 2 a.m

Officials said that Kunhimoideen had come out of his house on hearing the sound of a tree branch falling only to find a wild tusker standing in front of him. Even before he could react, the elephant attacked him,

Agitated local people blocked the Ooty-Batheri state highway. Abdul Gafoor, a local farmer told IANS that they were regularly facing attacks from wild animals, including elephants and wild bores, destroying the agricultural farms. He said that they had complained to the forest department officials about the regular attacks but the officials did not take any action.

It may be noted that this area is a border of Wayanad in Kerala and the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu.

There have been several instances of wild elephants entering human habitats leading to human and animal conflicts.

A farmer Raju was trampled to death by a wild elephant in July 2024 in Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad. The tusker attacked him from behind while he was walking back home from his farm. He was rushed to a private hospital in Kozhikode where he succumbed to death.

Tamil Nadu has also witnessed several human-elephant conflicts and the Coimbatore forest division, which includes the Nilgiri region, accounted for a maximum number of human deaths in wild elephant attacks.

The Coimbatore forest division recorded, as per the data available, 147 deaths between 2011-2022.

The forest department officials attribute these deaths to the rise in the elephant population, disturbances in migration paths, changes in land use patterns and agricultural practices and linear infrastructure developments.

As per a study, on average, 12 human deaths and 13 elephant deaths occur in the division in a year. According to the department, over 85 villages and small towns are severely affected due to the conflicts, and incidents of elephants straying out of forests are constantly increasing.

/IANS