Herd of elephants attack, kill man in Chittoor

Chittoor: A 54-year-old man died after he was attacked by a herd of elephants on 10 April at the Keeramanda forest area in Chittor's Bangarupalem.

Dhananjay (54) and Ravi (40) of Keeramanda village went to the nearby forest to graze their animals as usual. In the evening, a herd of elephants attacked the duo, killing Dhananjay on the spot and severely injuring Ravi.

Villagers heard the elephants and rushed to the spot. They managed to save Ravi and took him to a nearby hospital. However, they failed to retrieve Dhananjay's body since the herd was still at the same spot.

The movement of elephants has been bothering the local population despite efforts by the forest department to move them to interior areas. On Thursday, officials of the Chittoor west division forest department had rescued a 15 to 20-year-old male elephant from an agricultural well situated only 200 meters away from the forest area near Gandhi Nagar in Palamaner. On Wednesday night, a herd of elephants had strayed into the village in search of food. While returning to the forest at around 1.30 or 2 a.m, one of the elephants had fallen into the well and was stuck there for hours.

Villagers heard the trumpet of the male elephant at around 6 a.m the next day. The forest officials rushed to the spot and, with the help of the local people, rescued the animal. Luckily, it hadn’t suffered any injuries.