Man sustains injuries in yet another elephant encounter in Wayanad

A man was seriously injured in another wild elephant attack here on Friday morning.

The injured person was an employee of a resort in Kuruva Island here which is a well known tourist destination, a Forest official said.

He was a guide at one of the resorts and encountered the elephant while turning away people from the area due to the ongoing operation to capture the jumbo which had trampled to death another man last Saturday, the official said.

The elephant stomped on the guide causing serious injuries to his rib cage and back. He has been shifted to Kozhikode medical college, the official added.

The recent attack occurred a day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a meeting with people's representatives from the hilly district and issued a slew of directions to prevent human-animal encounters there.

Last week a 42-year-old man was trampled to death by a radio-collared elephant in the Mananthavady area of the district.

The elephant, which had strayed into the inhabited areas of the district, was radio-collared in Karnataka.

The jumbo is yet to be caught despite the Forest department pressing into service several Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), kumki elephants and even a thermal camera to detect the pachyderm in the dense forests in the area.