The Palappilly village in Alagappanagar panchayat of Thrissur district in Kerala has been living in constant fear of wild elephants straying into human habitat.
An elephant herd numbering more than 40, has been ambling into the village day and night. They walk on the roads in groups in broad daylight, attacking people and damaging standing crops.
“Seven people, including two tribals, were killed in elephant attacks over the last one year. People are scared to step out of their houses. We take the escort of forest officials if we have to go somewhere after sunset,” says M.B. Jalal, Panchayat member, Palappilly.
Palappilly is a village, situated 14 km south of Thrissur on the way to Chimmini Dam, one of the major tourist destinations in the district. The area consists of vast stretches of rubber estates, mainly belonging to Harrison Malayalam and Cochin-Malabar estates (currently Joonktollee Tea and Industries), sharing a border with the Chimmini forest.
“Open spaces, ripe jackfruits attracting the animals”Forest officials
Wild elephants have been commonly seen in areas such as Palappilly, Kundayi, Elikode, Velupadam, Valiyakulam and Vadakkumury. Natives of this area mainly constitute 3000-odd rubber estate workers and residents of tribal hamlets including Kallichitra, Elicode, Echippara colonies, says Mr. Jalal.
Elephants have been straying frequently into rubber estates for the last two-three years, says Sajikumar Panikker, who has been working as Manager, Pudukad Estate now under the Joonktollee Tea and Industries, for the last 13 years.
“For the last two-three months they have been camping on the rubber estates day and night. There are two or three herds in the area and each herd has calves with them. The elephants will not move fast if there are calves in the herd. And there are chances of them turning aggressive to protect the calves. They frequently stray near to the worker’s quarters,” Mr. Panicker notes.
“It seriously affects the tapping work. Tapping workers are forced to seek the help of security people to enter the estate. Three of our workers were injured in an elephant attack last year,” he adds.
“Even if the elephants are sent away to the forest, they are back in no time. The usual practice of bursting fire crackers does not seem to work. They seem to have got used to the noise.”
“Right now, the elephants are refusing to move from Palappilly. They have been shifting their camp between Palappilly and Vellikulangara areas. We are trying to send them to the Chimmini forest area but they are not going, perhaps there may be other herds in that area,” said K.P. Prem Shamir, Range Officer, Palappilly.
“Water shortage in the forest cannot be the reason for the straying of elephants here. There are sufficient sources of water in the area, including in the catchment areas of the dam."
"Rubber estates in the area conducted massive slaughtering in recent times providing large tracts of open space. Elephants like open spaces. Moreover there is surplus green grass available in the area. This may be the main attraction of the elephants here,” Mr. Prem Shamir noted.
“Estate workers have been asked not to go for tapping early in the morning. Usually, tappers go with headlights early in the morning from 3 a.m. Though elephants are huge animals, it is difficult to locate them in the dark. They have also been instructed to move only in groups.” he said.
The forest officials have formed an SMS alert system to caution people about the presence of elephants. As the summer holidays are coming, authorities are worried a lot. Since Chimmini is a major tourist attraction, more tourists may reach the area in the coming days.
“Currently the elephants have moved from the roadside towards Chimmini dam to Kundayi area. But we can’t predict their route, Forest officials said.
Jackfruits are another attraction for the elephants. It's the season of jackfruits. They may stray into human settlements for jackfruits. Forest officials urge the people to sell the jackfruits before it gets ripe.
Elephants here are not usually violent in nature. But sometimes they attack people when they get scared. Sometimes tourists provoke them, the Forest officials noted.
The Forest department is planning to prepare a digital route map of the elephants’ movement. Elephants follow a specific route. There are also plans to bring expert forest watchers from Wayanad to send the elephants back to the forests.
