Overview

• Forest section officer Sukumar was injured in Palamaner when a sub-adult elephant doubled back during a drive and fell on him, and his condition is stable after transfer to SVIMS Hospital in Tirupati.
• The animal reportedly in musth roamed through fields and residential areas, injured the officer, trampled a calf to death, and was driven back toward the reserve forest by evening using two kumkis.
• Villages in Palamaner and Gangavaram remain on alert, with forest teams maintaining round-the-clock watch for a possible return.
• Officials attribute the surge in encounters to herds moving from Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai and Karnataka’s Bannerghatta into the Koundinya sanctuary in search of food and water.
• Andhra Pradesh has brought in four kumkis after talks with Karnataka and promised faster compensation, yet a decade of conflict has left nearly 30 people dead, about 20 injured, and over 20 elephants killed, many by electrocution.