Ooty: Elephant menace rising on Kundah slopes

Ooty: Incidents of wild elephants straying into settlements and fields have risen on the Kundah slopes here. The herd of wild elephants that strayed into the Geddai limits in the foothills of Kundah bordering, Mulli in Kerala, has made life a nightmare for residents of the area.

As this herd criss-crosses the Geddai - Mulli hamlets and starts raiding crops, residents and farmers in Geddai feel that this herd may stray deeper into the Geddai limits in search of fodder and water. Villagers are also concerned about the crops in the farm fields in their neighbouring areas too, as any attempt by the wild jumbos to sneak into the farm fields would cause heavy damage and wreck havoc to their agriculture output and income.

Hence, the villagers want foresters to take precautionary action to thwart any attempt made by the elephants to stray into fields in Geddai limits.

A wild elephant which entered Kariamalai village limits on Wednesday damaged standing crops in the vegetable fields in the village vicinity.

Foresters who rushed to the spot, fired crackers to chase it away. They formed a team to track its movement, and check its entry into village limits.