Kochi: The death of a wild elephant in Munnar has snowballed into a major controversy with elephant lovers and green activists alleging the animal was killed by people after hitting it with an earthmover. Its body was found on Tuesday morning by forest officials, and they have noticed marks of injuries from the excavator. According to unconfirmed reports, the autopsy found the elephant died of internal bleeding following the assault. The driver of the earthmover and the equipment have been taken into custody by the forest department.
V.K. Venkatachalam of the Thrissur-based NGO Heritage Animal Task Force (HATF) submitted a petition to the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) seeking a detailed probe and action against the people involved. Describing it as the first of its kind in the country, the HATF sought stringent action against the perpetrators. According to the local people, the elephant suspected to be one of the rogue elephants ransacking the area for the past few weeks appeared inside the Cheruvara Estate of the Kannan Devan Hill Producing Company on Monday morning.
The elephant smashed the tea factory gate and chased away the workers. Although the local people informed the forest officials, they failed to respond in time. As the elephant stayed there nearly two hours, they managed to bring an earthmover to chase it away. As the elephant left the factory and stood near a tree, it was attacked with the earthmover. The footage of the incident captured on the mobile phones reveals it. The incident took place when the forest department has commissioned two Kumki elephants from Tamil Nadu to chase away the wild elephants encroaching human habitations and farmlands here.
