The forest officials have had a tough time dealing with a wild elephant herd that has been camping in Nilgiri after straying from the Dalma sanctuary in neighbouring Jharkhand for the last two weeks and causing widespread damages to crops and homes apart from spreading terror in the area.
However, the Operation Tinikosia launched by the forest officials on Friday to drive the herd away to the nearby jungle has boomeranged as the elephants have instead strayed into human habitations.
The man-elephant conflict has led to casualties on both sides. While an old woman has been killed, three female elephants have been found dead. There are reports that some elephants have fallen sick apparently after being poisoned.
An elephant calf, which had fallen into a shallow pit near Sataranda village Friday night, was rescued Saturday morning by forest officials after it struggled the whole night to come out of the pit on its own.
Another sick tusker has been spotted beside a pond at Gopalpur in a distressed state. It was suspected to have been poisoned by someone. Forest officials are waiting for arrival of a team of experts from Nandankanan in Bhubaneswar to take care of the sick animal.
Around 200 people, including forest officials, police and locals, have been deployed in the Operation Tinikosia.