Elephant Runs Wild On Coimbatore Streets In Viral Video; Nearly Kills An Elderly Man

A video of an elephant running wild on the streets of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu has gone viral.

The incident occurred on the Perur-Siruvani main Road on Sunday. The lone tusker injured an elderly man as it entered a residential area before heading to a plantain field.

The forest department's frontline personnel drove the elephant away from the human habitat. The injured has been identified as Maruthamuthu, aged 65 and a resident of Selvapuram, according to a report in The Times Of India.

The elderly man is out of danger and his condition is said to be stable. According to forest department officials, the tusker responsible for the recent attack in Karadimadai village, which injured three people, including an elderly woman, is the same elephant. The officials noted that the elephant has been venturing into residential areas in pursuit of food, even raiding stored rice, millets, and cattle feed in sheds at rural Coimbatore farmhouses.

Speaking to the daily, R Arun Kumar, forest range officer, Madukkarai forest range said, "It was very challenging to control the crowd, while chasing the wild elephant into the forest. Many people tried to take photos and videos of the animal. They were shouting and making gestures towards the elephant to draw its attention. We had to request them not to disturb the animal."

The clip in which the pachyderm running on the streets and attacking the man has now gone viral.

In fact, several clips of the wild elephant roaming around the district have surfaced online.