: Andhra Pradesh faces a tough task in dealing with wild elephants that stray into human habitations, eat away crops, trample on villagers and cause fatalities. The scenario is worse in the four districts of Parvathipuram Manyam, Chittoor, Tirupati and Annamayya. On Thursday, 74-year-old farmer Devaabattula Yacoob was trampled to death at Peda Bondapalli village of Seetanagaram mandal under Parvathipuram Manyam district.
As many as 12 persons have lost their lives in such incidents in the district since 2017. Foresters say there are two herds of wild elephants. One herd has seven and another four elephants including a baby elephant.
All of them are female. The foresters cite a series of reasons for the man-animal conflict -- like encroachment of forest lands for human habitations, the raising of food crops like sugarcane, banana, maize etc by farmers in the vicinity that attracts tuskers, and attempts by people at disturbing and taunting the elephants. With a baby elephant being in the herd, the female wild elephants are very possessive and aggressive and start attacking whoever tries to come near the baby elephant to see it out of curiosity.
Youngsters go crazy and take photos on their mobile phones, further subjecting the elephant herds to trouble. Foresters say that the two herds of elephants have almost shifted to the plain areas from the deep forests and are moving around for food. They can be sighted even in the daytime.
“We have engaged elephant trackers to follow th.
