Coonoor: The man-animal conflict resurfaced at Nanjapachthiram village and the nearby Marapalam slopes near the Coonoor hills as a wild elephant herd which strayed into the village limits is giving sleepless nights to villagers and also keeping foresters on their toes.
Though Nanjapachathiram hamlet, which is known for frequent man- conflicts in the past, has been quiet for some time, over the last three days, things began to change as a wild elephant herd consisting of two calves and four adult s strayed into the village limits and started moving around the human settlements and fields.
The herd has also made foresters busy, tracking and tracing the movement of the herd to avert any damage to life and property. Foresters are camping in the village limits.
By employing various strategies over the past two days, they were able to drive away the elephants from Nanjapachathiram limits to nearby Marapalam limits.
The herd is moving around the Marapalam slopes and playing hide and seek with foresters with the latter finding it tough to tackle the situation in the challenging and dangerous slopes in the Marapalam sector.
Forest sources said that the elephant herd could have strayed into Nanjapachathiram village limits in search of fodder in the fields there, as vegetable crops and banana trees appear to be the main attraction for elephants. Foresters have asked villagers to avoid moving out at night.
