Wild animal attacks: UDF begins dawn-to-dusk hartal in Wayanad

The hartal was called following the death of a 27-year-old man in a wild elephant attack at a tea estate in Attamala near Chooralmala here where landslides claimed over 200 lives in July last year.

The victim has been identified as Balakrishnan, a member of the tribal community and a resident of a paddy village, adjacent to a tea estate.

The incident was reported a day after a 45-year-old man was killed in a wild elephant attack in a forest fringe area in Noolpuzha village on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border in this district.

The UDF has called the hartal accusing the state government of ‘failing’ to take steps to protect people from wild animal attacks.

Essential services as well as travel for exams, weddings, and annual religious festivals have been exempted from the hartal.

Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly V D Satheesan had on Wednesday said that in the past three days alone, four people have been trampled to death by elephants in the high range areas of the state.

“In just one week, five people have lost their lives,” he had added.

He had also made a request to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the Assembly to intervene in the issue and take some urgent steps to protect the people of the high range areas from wild animal attacks.

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