3 injured in two suspected elephant attacks in Kerala’s Palakkad

Three persons were injured in two separate suspected incidents of wild elephant attacks in Palakkad district of Kerala on Thursday morning, forest officials said.

The first incident occurred at Mulli, a tribal area in Attappadi here near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, around 3 am when a man was allegedly attacked by an elephant while he was out for a walk, a senior forest officer said.

He said the man had scratches on his face and was intoxicated when the incident occurred in a forest area, according to doctors, and it needs to be confirmed whether the injuries were caused by an elephant attack.

In the second incident, around 5.15 am, an autorickshaw was allegedly overturned by a wild jumbo near Chittoor, injuring the driver and a woman passenger, the officer said.

“The woman had hired the auto and was on the way to the bus station when the incident occurred. The vehicle was overturned. The woman and auto driver suffered minor injuries,” he said.

The officer said the Forest department will be investigating the second incident to confirm whether it was caused by an elephant attack.

The suspected elephant attacks occurred a day after a 65-year-old man was killed in a wild elephant attack in Wayanad district on Wednesday.

The attack had occurred while forest officials and residents were attempting to drive the elephant away after it entered a populated area.

On Tuesday, a woman was killed in an elephant attack at Chinnakanal in the hill district of Idukki, an area that has witnessed repeated wild elephant intrusions into human settlements.

In the wake of these incidents, the Kerala government had on Wednesday decided to set up a 500-member Special Reserve Force to strengthen efforts to prevent wild elephant attacks and reduce human-wildlife conflict in vulnerable areas across the State.