Two persons were trampled to death by two wild elephants after they went astray in Chittoor district in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The incident happened at 109 Ramapuram village in Gudipala mandal of Chittoor constituency, located on the Andhra Pradesh–Tamil Nadu border abutting the Vellore highway.
The deceased were identified as Venkatesh and Selvi, inhabitants of the village’s SC colony.
According to Chief Conservator of Forest P. Nageswara Rao, the pachyderms raided the village around dawn, killed the cattle tied in front of their house and then trampled the two to death. One of the two was in a state of ‘musth’ and was apparently aggressive. The fellow residents woke up on hearing the cry of the victims and ran helter-skelter to save their lives.
The forest department reinforced the teams around the village to contain the elephants on rampage. Mr. Nageswara Rao rushed from Tirupati to the spot immediately on coming to know of the incident.
This is a major instance of man-animal conflict reported in the undivided Chittoor district, following the leopard attack on a six-year-old girl in the Tirumala forest last fortnight. Elephant attacks are generally witnessed in and around Koundinya reserve forest spread across Palamaner and Kuppam constituencies, but this attack happened precariously close to Chittoor town.
With loss of habitat and food resources, incidents of animals venturing into human habitations is on the rise in southern Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, panicked residents of the nearby villages staged a demonstration on the highway leading to Chittoor town, demanding the Forest department to ensure their safety.
