Chennai, March 12 (IANS) A man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at the Satyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as Mathiya (74), a watchman of a private farm land.

According to the local people, a wild elephant entered the farm land and Mathiya tried to scare it off by bursting crackers. However, the elephant came forward and trampled him to death.

The elephant stood at the spot for some time thus preventing the local people from taking Mathiya to the hospital.

Forest officials later reached the spot and removed the body after the elephant left the spot.

There has been an increasing number of man-animal conflict in various areas of western ghat forest ranges including Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.