Viral: Kerala man sits atop tree to save life from wild elephants

A viral video showed a Kerala man climbed a tree and sat atop for saving his life from a herd of wild elephants charging at him without any provocation.

According to local media reports, a farmer namely Saji in Chinnakanal of Idukki district faced a frightening situation after an elephant suddenly came charging at him without any provocation and later other elephants from the herd followed it.

The man who took refuge in a tree surrounded by the trumpeting elephants. The video was reportedly recorded by some locals. The viral video showed the man perching on a tree with the elephants hanging around and later he made a loud noise to alert the locals.

The locals attempted to drive away the elephants but they failed.

The locals then informed the forest officials who used crackers to drive away the elephants and rescued the farmer.

He told the media the incident occurred when he was going atop the hill from the makeshift shed where he was staying somewhere down.

He said, “Some elephants came running my way suddenly. I did not think much but climbed the tree…I had to sit there for the next one and a half hours.”

A forest official said despite being warned, the man ventured into the area where elephants were roaming to watch the herd of jumbos. As one of the tuskers remained near the tree, he could not climb down and had to wait on top for some time till the officials came back and chased it away, he added.