Compiled by TARRENCE TAN, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
TWO people in Tamil Nadu were killed within days of each other in separate wild elephant encounters leading to demonstrations demanding action, Makkal Osai reported.
The incident happened in the mountainous Nilgiris district famous for its tea plantations.
In the first incident Ananda Kumar, 43, a tea shop owner, was attacked while on the way to open his shop in the morning.
The local villagers refused to allow his remains to be taken away until the elephant was caught.
In another incident three days ago, a woman named Mumtaj was attacked by an elephant while returning from a relative’s home with her husband.
The elephant apparently caught and slammed the woman on the road and then trampled her.
Her husband Kunjali managed to attract the villagers by screaming for help and they succeeded in chasing the elephant away.
Once again, the villagers refused to allow the victim’s remains to be taken away by officials and held a demonstration demanding action.
Elephant encounters, though not always deadly, are common in the mountain area. Forest habitats are dwindling due to encroachment by plantations and other development.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.