Indian elephant tramples UK bird-watcher to death

The News 21 Sept 2013 NEW DELHI: A British bird-watcher has been trampled to death by an elephant in a southern Indian nature reserve after he went out alone on foot, his guide and police told AFP on Friday. The 68-year-old tourist was fatally injured by the male animal in the Masinagudi forest of Tamil Nadu state on Thursday, area police chief T. Senthil Kumar told AFP by telephone. He identified the victim as Colin Manvell, from the town of Havant, in southern Britain, who had visited the sanctuary in Nilgiris district twice a year for the last five years. “After lunch on Thursday sir (Manvell) went out on foot for bird watching near a lake which is a watering hole of wild elephants,” his local guide, M. Kumar, told AFP from Masinagudi, which also boasts a state-protected tiger reserve. “When he did not return by 4:15 pm, we followed his trail and heard the sounds of a tusker trumpeting loudly.” A forest warden called Gnanadoss, who uses one name, said it appeared that the Briton did not notice the elephant creep up on him until it was too late. “It swiped him with its trunk and then trampled him on the ground,” Gnanadoss said, adding the attack occurred 100 metres (330 feet) from a site where a woman was killed by elephants in 2009. The profusely bleeding man was rushed to a local hospital but there was no doctor to treat him. He was then ferried to a medical facility in Cuddalore city, 23 kilometres (15 miles) away, but he died from his injuries on the way, local guide Kumar said. “He knew his way well around here, he was aware of the wild elephants and also the dangers that lurk in the local jungles. This is tragic.” Tamil Nadu’s forest authorities say tourists should pay heed to warnings to stay away from densely wooded areas which are home to tigers and elephants.