Three youths found taking selfies in front of elephants in the reserve forest area belonging to Coimbatore Forest Range have been arrested by the Forest Department personnel in the district on Wednesday night.

Forest personnel patrolling in the jeep found three persons, Ranjith Kumar, Karthik and Prakash Kumar taking selfies and disturbing elephants in Coimbatore Forest Range.

The forest patrol team has been formed under the guidance of Conservator of Forests (Coimbatore Circle) S. Ramasubramanian in order to monitor the persons who are disturbing wildlife. The department has imposed a fine of Rs.5000 on each.

One of the senior officials in the forest department told that stern action would be taken against the persons disturbing wildlife in the reserve forest areas by the department under Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

“The youngsters don’t seem to be aware of the risk involved in these activities and this may turn the elephants violent and also affect the others in that area”, the official noted.

He also said that the toll free1800 4254 5456 has been functioning 24×7 in order to monitor the animal movements.If anything suspicious is noticed , people can report on the toll free number, officials said.

“In order to avoid man-animal conflict, people should avoid sleeping out of their houses and should avoid driving two wheelers late night while using the roads near the reserve forest areas,” he added.