Generally, elephants are very calm in nature; however, there are some wild elephants which become very aggressive. Recently, an incident has been reported from Sirumugai, Tamil Nadu, in which a wild elephant entered a college’s premises. What happened was that a Mahindra Bolero of forest officials was seen ramming into the wild elephant in order to drive it back into the forest.
The video showing the incident in which a Mahindra Bolero rammed this wild elephant has been shared on X by Chennai Live on their page. In this short clip, we can note that the elephant was standing between two buildings and a few trees on the premises of the Forest College and Research Institute (FC&RI) near Mettupalayam, located inside the Sirumugai forest range.
This particular forest comes under the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. What happens in the video is that the wild elephant named “Baahubali” wandered inside the Forest College and Research Institute. It can be noted that the elephant initially came on the left side of the Mahindra Bolero, in which officials from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department were sitting inside, and Baahubali damaged the rear left window with one of his tusks.
Following this, the driver of the Bolero started chasing the elephant to drive it out of the college premises. However, the vehicle could not be stopped on time while the elephant was running away after it came in front of the trees. As a result, the rear right leg of the elephant was hit by the Bolero. We can note that the elephant was then able to find a way out of the college premises.
Initially, when the wild elephant entered the premises of the college, the security guard immediately called the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, following which they arrived quickly at the spot and were trying to guide the elephant back into the forest using sirens, horns, and shouting. However, the elephant then charged into the Bolero and damaged the side window.
According to the forest officials, the elephant had very little space to move, due to which they had to tackle the situation accordingly. As per the forest officials, the vehicle hit the rear right leg of the elephant unintentionally while trying to turn away. Thankfully, neither the officials nor the elephant suffered any injuries.
A number of animal protection organization activists have slammed the Tamil Nadu Forest Department for this incident. People for Cattle in India (PFCI), which is an animal welfare organization, has stated that the elephant was chased, blinded with high-beam lights, and rammed by the Bolero of the officials.
They have urged legal and disciplinary action against the officials involved. They have argued that this particular act has violated multiple laws, including the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the Bharat Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. PFCI has demanded that there should be immediate suspension of the officials involved, filing of a Wildlife Offence Report (WOR), and registration of an FIR against the officials.
This is not the first time that Baahubali has entered the village. Prior to this, the wild elephant has been seen raiding local spots on many occasions and has never been violent towards humans. However, on this particular occasion, Baahubali was seen charging at humans for the first time.