Thiruvananthapuram: A tribal hamlet near the famous Sabarimala temple in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district is facing threats from wild animals including leopards, elephants, bears, bison, and deadly poisonous snakes like cobras.
The 430 families in Kombukuthi village near Koruthodu in Pathanamthitta are fearing for their lives due to the wild animals. While no life has been lost in recent times, people are under constant threat over the presence of wild animals.
Talking to IANS, Sujatha, a tea-tapping worker at the Kombukuthi village said, “When we were going for our job at 6.00 am, a leopard came charging towards us and our colleague, Mohan suffered a slight injury in the attack.”
She said that 30 domestic dogs were killed by the leopard after dragging them out from their homes. “A King Cobra was spotted near 50 metres from our colony and we alerted the Forest Department and officials reached the spot and caught the 12-foot-long snake.”
Panchayat member and CPI-M leader, M. S. Sunitha said that a group of elephants are roaming around near the residential premises and had recently destroyed a grocery shop in the area. Agricultural crops are also being destroyed on a day-to-day basis.
Forest officials have now installed CCTV cameras a couple of days before to trace the movement of wild animals.
“We suspect the presence of leopards in this area. However, we could not get any information on them even after installing the CCTV cameras,” Erumely forest range officer N.G. Jayakumar told IANS.
Local CPI-M local leader and Panchayat member, M. Suresh, while talking to IANS, said, “We need more forest staff in this area and to try and trap the leopard that is roaming in the area killing dogs and other domestic animals. We are living under constant threat of attack from herds of elephants. 430 Malarayar community families are inhabitants of this area and we are tribal people and urge the Forest Department to somehow end this menace.”
However, Forest Officer Jayakumar said that solar fences are installed in the area to prevent the entry of wild elephants into the tribal hamlet. He also said that four watchers are deployed to do night patrol in the area to ward off the threat of leopards.
The 430 tribal families have already complained to the district Collector and other officials to get themselves protected from the attack of wild animals. Suresh also said that the Panchayat will be complaining to the Chief Minister’s Office also regarding the threat of life and properties by the attack from wild animals.
