Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

`Teasing provoked elephant'

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, FEB. 14. A preliminary inquiry conducted by the Forest Range Officer, Booluvampatti, V.R. Gurusamy, into the trampling of an eight-year-old girl by an elephant at Kovai Coutrallam on Sunday, revealed that the animal was agitated after being teased by a group of youth.

The District Forest Officer, P. Durairasu, said that the pachyderm strayed into the path of tourists only after some youth hooted and threw stones at it. The animal then trampled the girl, Nithya, from Salem.

The incident could have been averted had the youth behaved themselves and alerted the families following them.

Though entry to Kovai Coutrallam has been barred from today, officials have cautioned tourists against entering the forests since it would disturb wild animals.

Along with habitat improvement programmes, the department was also planning to increase the number of caution boards to educate the tourists on the movement of wild elephants in such stretches in the Western Ghats.

Meanwhile, a range officer from Coimbatore was deputed on Thursday for handing over the initial solatium of Rs. 25,000 to the parents of the victim.

The remaining Rs. 75,000 would be handed over after getting the orders from the Chief Wildlife Warden, the DFO, P. Durairasu, said.

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