Pathanamthitta: Fearing wild animal attacks, a family including two children and a pregnant woman has been spending their night in a tree house on top of a 40 feet tall tree. A ladder made of wild twigs and sticks is being used by the family to reach the tree house. A misstep could be very dangerous as the tree house is constructed on a big tree.
Ponnamma, who is 8 months pregnant, has to climb up this ladder to reach the treehouse every night to sleep safely. She gets exhausted by the time she reaches atop after climbing up the tall tree with her baby bump.
‘As the wild animal attacks have become rampant here, we have no other go to save our lives. We are tired of complaining and narrating our sufferings. Though the authorities turn a deaf ear towards it all, we have to live, right?’, asks Ponnamma, wife of Rajendran from Laha Manjathodu tribal Ooru (settlement). Her state is heart-rending.
Belonging to Malambanadara tribal community, the family used to stay in Chalakkayam deep forest which falls under the Sabarimala forest range. As the proceedings of handing over land for tribal families in Laha Manjathodu were on, they moved to the Manjathodu settlement. Though they set up a shed along the road as a shelter, it was devastated by a wild elephant within a few days. Soon, they repaired the old tree house on a tall tree nearby and occupied it.
The family of four, including the Rajendran-Ponnamma couple’s two children Rajamanikyam and Rajamani, have been spending their nights in this tree house for about a year now. By evening, they all return from the temporary shed, climb up the tree and remain in the tree house through the night. The couple’s youngest son is taken to the tree house in a knapsack baby carrier made of cloth.
It is very difficult for Ponnamma, who is in her third trimester of pregnancy, to climb up the treehouse. Rajendran says, she also has health problems associated with nutritional deficiency.
It is usual for wild animals to roam around in this area by dusk. The shed, which they had set up to live in, was damaged by wild elephants many times. Leapords are also straying in this area. Recently, a tiger scared away their pet dog.
