Man trampled to death by wild elephants in Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam: In another case of human-animal conflict, a man was trampled to death by wild elephants in Andhra Pradesh’s Parvathipuram Manyam district on Monday.

The incident occurred in Vannam village in Komarada mandal when the man was returning home after taking a bath in a rivulet.

Shivdi Naidu, 62, did not notice a herd of elephants on a banana plantation. He suddenly came under attack by the wild jumbos and died on the spot.

The incident sent panic among villagers. Forest Department officials went on alert and launched an operation to drive away the elephants into forests.

This is the latest in a series of man-elephant conflicts in Andhra Pradesh. Two weeks ago, a herd of wild elephants created havoc in Vizianagaram district, damaging crops and sending panic among people.

A herd of jumbos strayed into a couple of villages in Vangara mandal and damaged the crops. Farmers were worried over the damage to their crops and have appealed to authorities to take immediate action to protect them from further losses. Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram Manyam districts, bordering Odisha, and Chittoor district, on the border with Karnataka, have witnessed several such incidents in recent months.

In May, a farm worker was trampled to death by an elephant at a mango orchard abutting the Sarakallu forest beat of the Thavanampalle mandal in Chittoor. In June, an elephant trampled to death another farmer in Ramakuppam mandal in the same district.

The Andhra Pradesh government recently sought help from Karnataka to address human-elephant conflict. Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on August 8 met Karnataka’s Minister for Forest and Environment Eshwar Khandre in Bangalore and sought the help of the Karnataka Forest Department in dealing with the problem.

At Pawan Kalyan’s request, the Karnataka government agreed to provide eight trained Kumki elephants to manage, drive away, and capture wild elephants. Kumki elephants are useful in taming wild elephants and thus keeping both animals and humans safe. In May, the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department officials had placed a request for Kumki elephants before their counterparts in Karnataka. Karnataka is reported to have given 67 kumki elephants to various states. In 2022-23, it provided 21 elephants to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.