Third death in 12 days; five people killed by wild elephants in three months

Siddapura (Kodagu):There seems to be no respite for man-animal conflict as in yet another case, a 49-year-old coffee planter was trampled to death by a wild elephant at a coffee estate in Siddapura, Virajpet taluk of Kodagu district yesterday.

The deceased has been identified as Ganapathy (Gappu, Gappanna) of the Chowrira family. The incident occurred when Ganapathy had gone to visit his coffee estate, when a wild elephant attacked him suddenly, resulting in his death.

The incident triggered fear among the coffee estate workers, who stopped their work and returned to their homes. The residents blamed the forest officials for negligence, stating that no action had been initiated to drive back the wild elephants despite knowing their presence in the coffee estates.

This is the third death reported in 12 days after a 19-year-old girl and a 50-year-old woman were killed recently in Madenadu and Valnur limits of the district. In three months, five people have lost their lives in wild elephant attacks in the district.

On learning about the incident, former MLAs M.P. Appachu Ranjan and K.G. Bopaiah, BJP District President Ravi Kalappa, Congress District President Dharmaja Uthappa, Virajpet Block Congress President Pattada Ranji Poonacha, BJP District General Secretary V.K. Lokesh, Labour Association leader P.R. Bharath and Raitha Sangha leaders visited the mortuary and staged a protest against the Forest Department officials.

Forest Department blamed

The protestors alleged that the forest officials had neglected the issue despite farmers, students, labourers and the general public facing difficulties in moving around freely owing to the menace of wild animals. They also said that the officials had not taken measures to repair elephant-proof trenches and solar fencing.

“The elephants have been crossing the railway barricades with ease, as they have not been installed scientifically. As a result, the elephants have been camping in coffee estates, damaging the plantations. There have also been casualties reported due to wild elephant attacks,” they said.

The protestors demanded scientific installation of railway barricades, solar fencing, compensation for crop loss and a compensation of Rs. 1 crore each for the families of those killed in wild animal attacks and to protect planters, farmers and labourers working in coffee estates, among others.

Addressing the protestors, Chief Conservator of Forests Sonal Vrishni and DCF Abhishek said the works on installing railway barricades on a 7km stretch were in progress and added that the Department had received the necessary permissions to capture and relocate rogue elephants.

“We have also deployed additional staff to keep a vigil on wild elephants, along with initiating several measures to prevent elephant attacks.

Issue raised in Assembly

Virajpet MLA A.S. Ponnanna, who spoke to the family members of the deceased, expressed his condolences and instructed the officials to initiate measures to capture the rogue elephants.

He also brought up the issue during the ongoing Legislative Assembly session, requesting the intervention of the State Government and Chief Minister to prevent loss of innocent lives to wild animal attacks in Kodagu region.