Roaming tuskers spread fear

Tirupati, Feb. 1: Panic gripped about 50 villages in Kuppam division in Chittoor district, bordering Karnataka, as a herd of 21 elephants trampled across their fields, destroying crops in the early hours of Tuesday.The villagers of Lakshmipuram, 2 km away from Kuppam town, woke up to the trumpeting of the tuskers around 3 am.A big herd of elephants was seen splashing about in the village tank. The elephants would emerge only briefly from the water to graze in the jungle adjacent to the tank. To scare away the animals, the villagers turned up the volume of their television sets while others began shouting. Women offered camphor harathis to the animals from a distance.The Chittoor DFO, Mr G.V. Subba Reddy, monitored the situation and dispatched forest officials to alert the villages between Kuppam and the forests along the Karnataka border.Mr Reddy said that around 7 pm the elephants emerged from the tank and started moving back in the direction from where they had come.It is a natural process. The tuskers are on their way back into the forests. As they have intruded into villages 25 km away from the forest, we have alerted the villagers to strictly remain indoors. We have deployed our trackers. If necessary, we will press into service two of our department elephants to guide them towards the border, he said.Incidentally, a week after a herd of elephant entered Karnatakas Kolar district, a farmer was trampled to death on Monday night in Bangarpet.If the field officials are to be believed, there are close to 50 wild elephants roaming in the Kolar and Kuppam belt now.

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