Jumbo ravages maize farm near Marudhamalai

Coimbatore: After eight hours of struggle, a wild elephant and its calf were driven back into the forest after it had entered a residential area near the foothills of Marudhamalai in suburbs of Coimbatore on Friday night, triggering panic among the public. 

According to forest sources, a female elephant along with its calf has camped at the foothills of Marudhamalai temple for more than a week.

On Friday evening, the pachyderm along with its calf entered Pothigai, a residential area and ravaged a maize farm there.

After hearing the jumbos’ continuous trumpeting, the residents and farmers gathered at the spot and lightened fire torches. But the elephant and the calf remained inside the maize farm without moving out.

As the efforts taken by the residents were in vain, forest department staff came to the spot around 7 pm on information from the public. 

The department vehicle entered the maize farm by honking continuously and the siren light focused on the elephants.

However, the jumbo and its calf remained inside till early hours of Saturday and slowly moved out of the farm around 3 am and reached nearby forest area close to Onapalayam early today.

Following the latest incident, residents have demanded the forest department to deploy a team of APW watchers at the spot.