Thrissur (Kerala), Mar 22 (PTI) Giving a tough time to forest officials and workers, a herd of over 40 wild elephants have been camping in a rubber estate in a village in this central Kerala district for the past few days.

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Forest officials on Tuesday said the elephant herd, also comprising calves, uprooted and knocked down many rubber trees as they roamed around the estate at Palappilly in Thrissur district.

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They said crackers were burst to chase the herd away from the plantation to forests. However, it has not succeeded so far as the animals have come to the plantation in search of water.

Forest officials have advised the rubber tappers not to come to the plantation early in the morning for work.

The workers have also been advised to come as a group or else they will be in danger, the officials said. Usually, the workers start tapping work at 3 am.

Estate workers said the elephants used to come during the day time and go back to the forest in the evening but this time around they refused to go back.

They have been camping in the rubber estate for the past few days, causing widespread damages to the properties by uprooting trees, they said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)