Elephant creates havoc in Kerala village

Mallapuram (Kerala), Aug 28 (ANI): An elephant, a trained and tamed one that was brought to carry tree logs, turned violent and created havoc for a couple of hours at Elamkulam town in Mallapuram district of Kerala.

In the process, the errant elephant damaged several shops and houses.

After running around for hours in the narrow lanes and streets of the town, the jumbo was finally brought under control with the help of an expert firing a dart of tranquilliser at it to neutralise its violent behaviour.

Reportedly, the 24-year old tusker named Palod Govindan Kutty became agitated due to ill treatment by its mahout and unable to bear such an attitude of its master, it ran amok covering the entire village for nearly nine hours.

According to the villagers, the elephant rampaged the boundary walls of many houses, smashed iron gates and even tossed away the roof covering of a shop.

"At around 10.30 or 11a.m, I heard people shouting. I stepped out of my shop and saw that an elephant was running mad and entering the town area. Firstly it went inside a house where many people started shouting. Soon it left the place and then entered the road. Later it started running all over causing destruction on its way. It entered a nearby school as well," said Girish, an eyewitness.

Consequently, Wildlife rangers and veterinarians of Kerala's Forest Department have initiated a probe to ascertain the sudden violent behaviour of elephant. (ANI)