Wayanad: An uninvited guest dropped into the kitchen of a wayside eatery at Kolagappara on Saturday noon leaving staff and customers, the majority of them tourists, scurrying for cover.
When the chef and his team members ran out of the kitchen, the animal roamed in the kitchen and the dining hall figuring a way to get out of the mess it had created.
Curiously, the unprecedented animal raid happened not in a resort nestled near the forest, but in a restaurant situated along the busy Kozhikode-Kollegal National Highway 766 at Kolagappara town, just 5 km away from Sulthan Bathery.
Most of the hotels and restaurants along the National Highway are on the fringes of coffee plantations. Wild boar, deer, peacocks and elephant herds are regular visitors to such properties. But this was the first time that an animal ventured into the restaurant, owners said.
When the animal ran into the kitchen and then entered the dining hall, customers were having lunch and hotel staff were busy supplying food.
“Luckily we escaped unhurt as we managed to run out,” said a hotel staff who did not want to be identified. “It was a narrow escape for the tourists too," he said. “We closed all the entrances to the kitchen and dining hall. That ensured that no visitor or staff was harmed and limited the damage, he added.
But the sudden fame, for all wrong reasons, has put the eatery owners in a fix. They fear customers may stay away from the restaurant because of the animal raid.
Informed by the restaurant authorities, the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of the forest department caught the animal after a prolonged ‘mission’. it was released to the jungle inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary by evening.
