Kerala’s unending human-animal conflict: Wild jumbo kills old woman

Idukki/Kerala: In Kerala's Idukki district, an elderly woman died in a brutal attack by a wild elephant on Monday morning. The woman, 65-year-old Indira Ramakrishnan, from Neriamangalam in the district, was in her farmland tending her goat when the unfortunate attack happened. She had tried to escape but fell down in her effort and was attacked by the jumbo. She died while she was being rushed to the hospital.

After the incident, conflict arose between police and the bereaved and angered relatives of the deceased. Relatives had held a protest at the Kothamangalam town with the deceased dead body, but police allegedly seized it despite protests by Indira's family. Police allegedly said that protesting cannot be permitted with the body placed for inquest. The protesters said that they will allow the deceased's post-mortem only after a solution is met in the case of wild animal attacks.

Indira's relatives, including her brother, protested by lying on the body, saying that they would not release the body. Police pulled them away and dragged the freezer that housed the body through the road before loading it into an ambulance, Madhyamam reports.

Police arrested and removed those who protested and allegedly demolished the protest camp they erected.

The conflict between humans and wildlife in Kerala has become a continuous story in recent months. After multiple incidents of wild animal attacks involving elephants, wild cats, etc., tourist spots in Wayanad district have been closed indefinitely. The horrible wild animal attacks here sparked severe protests recently. Three people were killed in three weeks in early February.

Further, the closure of tourist spots here has affected those dependent on the sector, and the call for reopening the same has intensified.