Kerala: Tourists Have Lucky Escape As Wild Elephant Chases Them While Trying To Click Photos

Two unidentified tourists had a lucky escape from a charging wild elephant in Kerala's Wayanad district when they had stopped to click photos of a jumbo herd.

The incident happened on Wednesday near the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary in Wayanad, close to the Karnataka border.

Tourists chased by elephant

In a video, shot by a passerby, two men can be seen being chased by a female elephant.

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Though the two men were close to their SUV, which also had other occupants, they could not get inside the vehicle when the elephant charged at them from the other side of the road.

In the hair-raising, the two men are seen running desperately from the elephant.

Narrow escape for tourists

To the shock of the occupants of another car, who were making the video, one of them then fell down.

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The elephant then tried to kick the fallen man twice, but he managed to avoid death by a whisker and crawl away to safety.

By this time the second person had also managed to get away and the elephant also stopped chasing them and went back to its herd.

Video goes viral

According to Savad, a resident of Wayanad, who recorded the video, he and his family were on their way to Ooty in neighbouring Tamil Nadu when they came across the shocking sight.

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Savad told local media that there was an elephant herd on the roadside as they passed by and many tourists were slowing down their vehicles to click photos of the jumbos.

But the two men had stepped out of their vehicle to get closer to the herd.

Wildlife in Wayanad

Wayanad, which has a forest cover of around 80 per cent of the district's geographical area is home to a wide range of wildlife. Seeing wild animals including elephants, tigers, leopards, Indian Gaur, etc on the roadside is not uncommon in Wayanad.

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The Kerala Forest Department has repeatedly warned tourists against stopping their vehicles and trying to get close to the wild animals.

Wild elephant from Karnataka captured in Wayanad

In a related development, a solitary wild elephant terrorised the Mananthavady town of Wayanad on Friday. The radio-collared elephant, called Thanneer Komban had strayed into the town from neighbouring Karnataka.

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It was darted and captured by the Kerala Forest Department late on Friday and handed over to their counterparts in Karnataka.

However, on Saturday morning the Karnataka Forest Department officials said that the elephant that was shifted to Bandipur National Park had died of an unidentified cause.

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