Villagers demand action against elephant attacks

Protesting frequent fatal attacks by elephants and damage to property villagers near Valparai in the district today staged a picketing, demanding immediate action, even as the forest department requisitioned 'kumkis' (tamed elephants) to drive the pacyderms back to the jungles.
Squatting on a hairpin bend on Pollachi-Valparai road in heavy rain, the villagers urged the forest department and the Government to find a permanent solution to the problem.
They said that a 62-year-old man was chased and trampled to death by an elephant last Saturday while he was on his way to attend a funeral.
The picketing crippled vehicular traffic for nearly three three hours from 9.30 AM, police said.

Meanwhile, the forest department brought in a kumki yesterday to chase away one wild elephant.
Another kumki would be brought in later today to assist it and if necessary, another two would later today till the elephant was chased into the jungles, the department sources said.