Wild elephant causes damage to farmhouse near Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A wild elephant entered an agricultural field at Kembanur near Thondamuthur in Coimbatore forest division on Thursday night and damaged a farmhouse. Forest department officials said a tusker strayed out of the reserve forest and entered the agricultural field located a few meters away from the forest boundary in search of food. The elephant broke the windows and doors of the farmhouse and pulled out the feed that was stored for the cattle. It ate rice bran and oil cake. Jayakumar, who was working in the agricultural field, noticed the elephant's movement and informed the frontline staffers of the forest department over the phone. They reached the spot within a few minutes but were unable to enter the field as the main entrance was locked by the property owner, Rajappan. They informed Rajappan about the situation, and he reached the spot and opened the gate."Our team acted swiftly and managed to drive the wild elephant away. We have deployed a team at Kembanur to monitor the crop-raiding elephant," said a forest department officer.