BENGALURU:Tusker trouble rattled Bannerghatta Biological Park when two women were reportedly injured by two wild elephants traversing the elephant corridor on Tuesday.
The incident reportedly occurred between 9.30 and 10 am when the women were cleaning the road adjacent to the elephant safari. The park is closed to the public on Tuesday. Nagamma (45), who suffered serious injuries, was shifted to Victoria Hospital while 24-year-old Maheshwari is recovering from her trauma.
Speaking to Express, Bannerghata Biological Park director Range Gowda said there were no forest staff near the corridor road at the time of the incident.
Panic Run
“On seeing the wild elephants, the two women panicked and ran. However, there is no evidence to suggest that they were attacked by the elephants. Our staff immediately rushed them to hospital,” he said.
Medical superintendent of Victoria Hospital Dr T Durganna said Nagamma has been shifted to the ICU while Maheshwari is recovering.
It is not unusual for wild elephants to stray on to this road as it is ‘their’ area and both the Forest Department staff and employees are usually very careful. Often, elephants come on to this open forested region and visit the Bannerghata Biological Park elephant safari which has 19 elephants, including four calves.
“Wild elephants do come to the safari for two to three days and our mahouts know how to deal with them.
The staff are extremely careful as there are regular visits by wild elephants in search of females and even our safari animals enter the forest sometimes. Recently, a few wild elephants entered the safari area and destroyed everything in sight. The road near the corridor is the natural territory of elephants, but our enclosure is fenced.
One has to be careful as animals roam freely in search of food and water,” Gowda said.
Human-elephant Conflict
The Bannerghata National Park is part of the wildlife corridor for elephants. The entire safari area has been barricaded with a stone wall and is further supported by a solar power fence and elephant-proof trench. However, incidents of human-elephant conflict have been reported in this region as it is close to their habitat.