Elephants surround Perur village in Kuppam

Man and animal conflict took a serious turn in the Ramakuppam belt of Chittoor district with nearly three groups of elephants attacking standing crops in Perur village on Saturday night.

In all 30 elephants including 7 baby elephants attacked the fields and also entered the village in search of food and water and frightened the villagers .Women, children and aged ran away while the able bodied tried to push the animals with fire torches and beating of drums.

The Ramakuppam forest belt has been attracting stray elephants from Tamil Nadu since last few decades .Forest officials claims that the abode of elephant herds were disturbed by the red sander wood and timber smugglers and the movement of vehicles had pushed the animals towards this part of AP . Tamil Nadu govt has blamed the AP smugglers as responsible.

AP government has tried a solution of placing solar electric fences across the patch of forest to keep animals away from state forest. But earlier attempts had failed as pachyderms even crashed the power installations and entered the region . So now AP forest department is addressing the problems of food and water of the animals .It is also clearing the forest of smugglers movement so that the animals could savel return to their abode deep in Tamil Nadu forest belt.

AP chief minister who reviewed the elephant situation before leaving for Delhi this morning instructed officials to provide all help to villagers of Perur village and also ensure that the animals are scared and sent away. This is the third time in last fifteen days that the animals have resorted to such acts of attacking villages and destroying crops .