Elephant herd enters rubber estate in Kerala, withstands attempts to drive them off

A herd of wild elephants ventured into a rubber estate in this high range district on Sunday and withstood repeated efforts of the forest authorities to chase them back into the forest.

A senior forest official of the district said that the herd of eight pachyderms, including a calf, entered the estate at Peruvanthanam here early today.

We reached the site at around 10 AM after being informed by the locals and since then we have been trying to chase the herd back into the forest, but to no avail, the official said.

He said the herd was hiding deep inside the estate covered by dense foliage where it was difficult for the officials to go and therefore, it was proving difficult to chase away the wild elephants.

A similar incident had occurred a week ago, the official said and added that back then the herd, believed to be the same one as now, had returned to the forest on its own.

''This time too they may go back on their own. However, we are stationed here to keep track of their movements and to make sure they return to the forest,'' the official said.