Straying of Elephants Creates Panic in Kolar Villages (Bengaluru, India)

Author(s)

Vishwa Kundapura The Hindu

Date Published

The residents of villages in Bangarpet taluk bordering Tamil Nadu forest area have panicked on the reported entry of about four elephants in the wee hours of Tuesday.

A herd of elephants is said to have entered Bathlahalli under Kamasamaudram State Forest area in Bangarpet taluk in Kolar district and damaged the water pipe in a tomato field. Though nobody has witnessed the elephants, the damage of the pipe has created panic as the people thought it would have been done only by the elephants. The tuskers usually enter Karnataka region from adjacent Krishnagiri forests in Tamil Nadu.

“We are making all efforts to trace the elephants that might have strayed into the forests in our side,” Bangarpet Range Forest Officer H. Chinnappaiah told The Hindu.

It was difficult to trace the footprints of the elephants as there was no moisture on the land, he said. Anyway, the Forest Department staff have been deployed to trace the elephants, he added.

Measures will be taken to ensure that wild tuskers don’t enter the fields and damage the crops, he added.

Ten victims in two years

The tuskers have caused extensive crop damage in Bangarpet and Malur taluks in the last few years. Moreover, eight farmers were killed in 2012, and two died the following year.

The last incident of elephants straying into the forest areas in Kolar district was in November last year.