Temple elephant in Tamil Nadu attacks its caretaker, two dead

Thoothukudi: An elephant of the famed Tiruchendur Subramania Swamy temple near here attacked its caretaker and another man on Monday, resulting in their death, an official said.

The circumstances under which the elephant attacked them is yet to be ascertained and one of the dead was a ‘Kavadi,’ (an assistant to the elephant handler) and another was his relative, he said.

“Our team of veterinarians are looking into the incident. It was a 26-year old female elephant, it used to be generally peaceful and calm,” the forest department official said adding the elephant was “now behaving normally.” The elephant was in the temple for a pretty long time and the trigger for the sudden, violent behaviour is yet to be ascertained.