Bangalore: Herd of 15 wild elephants trample four to death
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
With IANS Inputs
Bangalore, Jun 24: A herd of 15 wild elephants, which strayed into the human habitats in Malur and Hoskote, has trampled to death 4 persons in Malur and Hoskote on Sunday.
The State Government has released a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased.
Forest Minister B Ramanath Rai told reporters in Bangalore on Monday that the officials of the Forest
Department and Bannerghatta National Park have been making efforts to drive out a herd of 15 elephants to the nearest forest area – Bannegahatta or Krishnagiri – depending on the movement.
Rai said “trained elephants from Mysore will be used drive elephants into forests and the team will reach the spot very shortly.”
“The department officials are facing impediments to drive out elephants due to the presence of a large gathering of local people. The State Forest Department officials are in continuous touch with Tamil Nadu (Hosur) forest division officials”.
“On Monday morning, these elephants have reached Bangalore Rural limits of Sarjapura areas near Hosur highway,” he said.
Efforts are being made to drive these elephants to the nearest forest areas (Bannerghatta or Krishnagiri forest areas depending on the movement), the Forest Minister said.
Elephants have started moving from Malur taluk towards Hoskote of Bangalore Rural district around 2 to 3 pm on Sunday.
The department has been carrying out operation to drive out elephants towards forest areas of Tamil Nadu.
On Saturday, while carrying out the operation elephants got panicked by the presence of around 3,000 to 4,000 people who have gathered to see movement of elephants out of curiosity and eventually four people were died in the attack, the minister said.
The Government would make efforts to implement the recommendations of the elephant task force set up by the High Court of Karnataka to find out a permanent solution to the problem.
The Minister appealed to the public to stay calm and cooperate with the department officials.
The growing man-animal conflict surfaced again when the herd came out of the forest in the absence of their staple food (grass and bamboos) along their corridor and water bodies drying up due to drought for the last two consecutive years.
"The elephants would have walked about 40 km a day to enter the banana plantations that have mushroomed on the fringes of the forest to hide in search of paddy fields. Once they develop taste for bananas and paddy grass, they don't like to go back into the dry forest as they have to find enough food to survive and feed their calves," said state's Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Brij Kishore Singh.
The forest officials and guards had to first chase away hundreds of curious onlookers and villagers who gathered around the area earlier in the day on spotting the herd and tried to provoke them by shouting, screaming and throwing stones and sticks on them.
"Being wild and over cautious to protect their calves, the herd stayed put in between the shrubs and woods to guard against any attack on them by the crowds. We are also told fire crackers were burst to scare them away, which is unfortunate," Singh noted.
Another herd of dozen elephants was sighted at Anekal Sunday on the outskirts of Bannerghatta forest as they came out in search of food and water in the nearby lakes and ponds.
"Though we succeeded in moving the herd from the spot towards the forest, they halted after walking for a mile. We are watching them from a distance using lights and binoculars. We are hoping they would go walk back during the night," senior conservation officer Deepak Sharma told IANS from the spot.
As a precautionary measure, the forest department is bringing five tamed elephants from Mysore, about 140 km from here, to deploy them along the fringes to escort their wild counterparts into the forest.
"We are against human intervention in regulating the movement of wild elephants as they are wary of our presence and turn dangerous, attacking anyone in defence. We hope people living in the villages and on the forest fringes will cooperate with us," Singh added.