Agali, Palakkad: Elephant-human conflicts are on the rise, particularly in Kerala, and the southern state has already witnessed a few fatal incidents recently. On Monday, a forest department watcher, one Bharatan, had a lucky escape from an attack by a herd of wild elephants which included a rogue tusker near Agali.
The incident took place at Neelakuzhi, near Agali in Palakkad district, when a team from the Forest Department was engaged in scaring away wild elephants with crackers and other means.
The five elephants attacked the team led by Bharatan and they ran for their lives. A rogue tusker and another elephant chased Bharatan and he sprinted for 300 m before finding refuge in a tree. He managed to escape notice of the tuskers by clinging on to a branch.
The other watchers waited with bated breath some distance away as the elephants remained under the tree for about an hour. It was after they left that everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Bharatan, who rushes in whenever any elephant herd strays into inhabited places in Attappady to chase them away, is a former employee of AHADS (Attappady Hills Area Development Society). Attappady is a predominatly tribal belt on the Kerala border.
Early this month, a tribal man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Moonnanakuzhi in Wayanad district. In June, another tribal man was killed in a wild elephant's attack at Thirunelli in the same district.
