Kochi: A female engineering student died and a youth sustained serious injuries after a branch of a huge palm tree uprooted by an elephant fell on their motorcycle near Kothamangalam on Saturday.
Ann Mary C V (21), a native of Thrissur, was riding pillion on the bike driven by her college-mate Altaf Aboobacker (21). As per police, the incident happened around 6 pm at Chembankuzhy near the Nagarampara forest office, when the branch uprooted by the elephant fell on them.
Local forest officials who arrived at the scene rushed the duo to a private hospital in Kothamangalam, but the girl couldn’t be saved. According to forest officials, the area often witnesses wild elephant intrusions into human settlements which heightens the risk of conflict between elephants and human population.
The southern state has seen a spate of man-animal encounters so much so that in March this year, the State Cabinet declared human-wildlife conflict a ‘State-specific disaster’. The decision was taken in the wake of fatal wildlife attacks on people apart from crop loss and property damage to a great extent in Kerala.
Subsequently, the State Disaster Management Authority was roped in to actively monitor the activities at the district and local levels to address the issue and mitigate the human-wildlife conflict.
As per reports, 'Jagratha Samithis' were also constituted at such conflict prone zones to work in coordination with the district-level officials and elected representatives and immediately issue warnings and make public announcements about presence or movement of elephants or other wild animals in human habitations. Moreover, the administration deployed forest watchers on a temporary basis to tackle the issues.
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