A 'rice-loving' jumbo wrecks havoc in Kerala village; destroys ration shop
A 'rice-loving' jumbo wrecks havoc in Kerala village; destroys ration shop
Devdiscourse
January 27, 2023
A rice-loving wild tusker, which frequently strays into human settlements
allegedly in search of the grain, destroyed a ration shop in an estate in
this Kerala district in the early hours of Friday, villagers here
complained.
The rogue elephant, known as ''Arikomban'' among local people due its love
for ''ari'' (rice), has been a nightmare for those in Santhanpara in this
high range district for some time.
''Ari'' means rice and ''komban'' means tusker in local parlance.
However, Wildlife officials said the shop is located in the traditional
route of the jumbos and they are yet to confirm whether the same jumbo was
raiding ration shops.
The elephant raided the ration shop, located in Panniyar Estate, four times
in the last 10 days and destroyed it completely this morning, Antony, the
shop owner, said.
The shop was already in a dilapidated condition due to the frequent jumbo
attacks and it was completely ruined in the latest outing, he said.
''It used to eat rice and other provisions stored in the ration shop. But,
this morning, the elephant could not find anything to eat as we already
shifted all articles to another room anticipating the attack,'' the
desperate man said.
Detailing its modus operandi, Antony said the elephant usually raids the
tiny shop and removes its ''koluthu'' (metal lock) and eats the rice after
putting it on the ground from the sacks.
Besides 'ari', sugar and wheat are also its favourites.
Besides ''Arikomban'', two other elephants also used to raid ration shops
in the region and they were locally known as 'Chakkakomban'' and
''Murlivaalan'', he said.
The owner said it was tough to run the shop in the same place as the animal
would attack it again.
Asked why the elephants were particularly raiding ration shops, Punyavel,
another villager, said these animals somehow tasted rice and are frequently
coming in search of places where it is available.
Punyavel's grocery shop, located at Chokkanad Estate, was also attacked by
another elephant recently.
He said the only solution is to capture these rogue jumbos just like
Palakkad Tusker-7 (PT-7), another wild jumbo which had been wreaking havoc
in a few villages in Palakkad district for over two years, which was caught
on Sunday last.
Meanwhile, a forest official told PTI that besides the ration shop, a house
was also destroyed in elephant attack in the early morning.
''But, we are yet to confirm whether the jumbo attacked the shop and the
house were the same,'' he said.
The official also said they cannot say that the jumbo was particularly
raiding ration shops.
''These areas are the traditional route of wild elephants. These estates,
shops and 'layams' (small houses of estate workers) all are located in the
route. These jumbos do not go to any other area as they traditionally
belonged to these places,'' he explained.
An all-party meeting was also held in Idukki the other day seeking a
permanent solution to end the jumbo menace.