Herd of wild elephants stay put in rubber plantation in Kerala

A herd of wild elephants are camping in a rubber plantation near a forest area in this central Kerala district despite efforts by the forest officials to send them back into the wild, a senior officer said on Wednesday.

The presence of a herd of 24 wild elephants are reported from an estate near the forests under Palappilly forest range in Chalakkudy.

''We are monitoring the situation. We don't want to disturb them as it may create trouble,'' a senior forest official told PTI.

He said such things are not rare as sometimes multiple herds of elephants enter the big estates which were once part of the forests.

Officials also said a team of forest officials had been deputed to send the elephants back to the forest.

On Tuesday, a young tuskless male elephant, which strayed into the area inhabited by humans by demolishing the solar fencing, was found dead with its Its face falling first into the septic tank in the backyard of an uninhabited house near a forest area in Vellikulangara in the district.