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“On Monday at around 7:30 pm a herd of eight elephants, including four adult jumbos and as many calves strayed into my field. We bursted crackers to shoo away the herd. The jumbos took to heels. The ready-to-harvest crop on 35 guntas of land was destroyed,” said Ravi Badiger, a resident of Konanakoppa near Sirsi.
The herd was spotted at an eucalyptus grove near Neralgi on Tuesday morning. Farmers, who had gone to their fields to perform a ritual as part of Bharata Hunnime, spotted the elephants. They burst crackers to drive away the herd, during which a calf got separated from the herd.
The villagers caught hold of the calf, applied vermillion and turmeric to it and performed puja. They offered fruits to the wild guest.
The villagers prevented the Forest department officials from releasing the calf into forest area in Anavatti. They insisted that the calf be re-united with its mother.
Forest department officials and guards of Banawasi, Anavatti and Hangal zones are on the lookout for the mother of the calf. Three teams have been constituted to search the herd. “The calf will be re-united with the herd once we learn the whereabouts of the herd,” Forest department officials said.
Elephants run amok, 6 injured
The elephant menace has continued in villages bordering Uttara Kannada district. On Tuesday, six labourers who were cutting trees in the forest close to Inam Niralgi in Hangal taluk suffered injuries when a herd of six elephants ran amok, reports DHNS from Haveri. Three labourers, who suffered serious injuries, are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Sirsi. In the second such incident in as many days, a 20-day calf got separated from a herd. The residents of Inam Niralgi performed puja to the calf and offered the little one fruits and grains. According to the Forest department officials, 11 jumbos, in two herds of five and six, are wandering in the forest areas in Sirsi and Hangal taluks.