Tea estate fence removed to ease elephant movement near Valparai

Wild elephants crossing Valparai - Cinchona road at Sirukundra.

| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A fence of a tea estate near Valparai was removed following complaints that it obstructed free movement of wild elephants between private plantations and fragmented forest patches.Sources said a fence, along with a metal gate, erected along the side of a tea estate at Sirukundra on Valparai – Cinchona road was removed following the intervention of the Forest Department.Local people and naturalists argued that the fence was obstructing a traditional pathway of elephants in the mosaic landscape of private estates and fragmented forest patches in the Valparai plateau.Forest Department officials said that parts of Sirukundra fall within the jurisdiction of the Manambolly forest range of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve. The fence was an obstruction for elephants to move between Manambolly and Valparai forest ranges. Officials added that the Department has been removing such linear obstructions affecting elephant movement whenever they come to their attention. Published - August 03, 2026 07:26 pm IST