A single-tusk wild elephant ventured into Munnar town in Idukki on Monday night and damaged a parked vehicle.
According to local residents, the elephant reached the State Bank Of India branch area in Munnar around 8.30 p.m. It destroyed a vehicle parked in the vicinity.
Munnar range officer Arun Maharaja said the elephant from Mankulam forest was camping near Doctors Bungalow when the Rapid Response Team (RRT) and the officials of the range office chased it back to the forest.
“Normally, the tusker frequents the Shola forests near Munnar CSI Church in Old Munnar and moves back to the forest later. The animal may heave reached the town by accident this time around,” said the official.
According to sources, the elephant is a regular visitor to the Munnar panchayat-owned dumping yard at Kallar near Munnar. It was found feeding on plastic waste at the dumping site on January 11. After the incident, Munnar panchayat cleared the waste.
On Monday, another wild elephant, locally known as Murivalankompan, was spotted near Montfort School at Chinnakkanal, near Munnar, around 12.30 p.m. Local residents said that wild tuskers Chakkakompan and Murivalankompan were also coming to the human settlements in Chinnakkanal and BL Ram for the past two days.
