[addyhemmige]

This is a shocking development. Two wild elephants are on a rampage in Mysore city since today morning. One person and a cow were killed (apparently, this was shown live on tv). From what I've heard from the radio and from a friend in Mysore, one elephant has been tranquilized and is located near JSS Women hostel in Saraswathipuram and the other one is near Kukkarahalli lake.

According to a friend who interacted with the forest dept officials in Mysore, the tranquilized elephant is a male of around 8-10 years of age. It seems they are yet to observe the 2nd elephant.

Mysoreans, please update on the situation.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/w...-killed-110859

[amit.mishra]

Yes, saw a TV grab of a calf roaming around the MORE supermarket in Mysore with people running helter skelter. More updates from Mysoreans please

[addyhemmige]

Update

Apparently, these 2 elephants were seen in T Narasipura yesterday night, a distance of 30 kms. They have traveled all night to reach Mysore city in the early hours of the morning. My friend also said that an elephant expert is closely monitoring the tranquilized animal and that trained elephants are being brought in from Nagarhole to help control the wild ones.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Addy, I actually foresee far worse times in the days to come. The forest spaces have shrunk drastically, I pity the elephants, we have encroached into their space and they are going to pay the penalty for it. I suppose the elephants must have come from Cauvery WLS and adjoining areas if they have passed through T Narsipura.

During his early days Veerappan used to hunt tuskers because of which there was a serious imbalance. When he shifted to Sandalwood and slowly lost interest in tuskers, the male elephant population have slowly started to regain lost ground, not by much but certainly they are making progress.

On the contrary the forest cover has drastically gone down over the last couple of decades. The elephants have no where to go, we will see these type of incidents happening more frequently and at places which we can never imagine. You get to hear elephant herds fequenting villages in Dharmapuri / Krishnagiri near NH7 which never used to happen earlier.

During my recent visit to Bandipur / Mudumalai (after almost 3 years) I only saw tuskers, quite a few were sub adult tuskers, for two full days until we saw a herd of elephants during late evening on the 2nd day.

At one point you need to be lucky to see a tusker, how times are changing.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

Addy, I actually foresee far worse times in the days to come. The forest spaces have shrunk drastically, I pity the elephants, we have encroached into their space and they are going to pay the penalty for it. I suppose the elephants must have come from Cauvery WLS and adjoining areas if they have passed through T Narsipura.

+1. My guess is the same. It is from either Cauvery WLS or BRT Tiger Reserve (through Kollegal) that they could have come.

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

During his early days Veerappan used to hunt tuskers because of which there was a serious imbalance. When he shifted to Sandalwood and slowly lost interest in tuskers, the male elephant population have slowly started to regain lost ground, not by much but certainly they are making progress.

Another fact is that while poaching of tuskers, other elephants, mainly large females (matriarchs) were also killed as collateral damage. If one knows a bit about elephants, they will understand that the matriarchs are the head of the family and they control the youngsters. The absence of the experienced matriarchs in the herd have an effect on the younger lot who in turn develop aggresive behaviour. It is more like a spoilt child.

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

On the contrary the forest cover has drastically gone down over the last couple of decades. The elephants have no where to go, we will see these type of incidents happening more frequently and at places which we can never imagine. You get to hear elephant herds fequenting villages in Dharmapuri / Krishnagiri near NH7 which never used to happen earlier.

At one point you need to be lucky to see a tusker, how times are changing.

The fragmentation of forest and the consequential disappearance of elephant corridors add to the problems. Unless, we take steps to save these corridors, these kinds of incidents will rise.

I know about elephants frequenting villages, but cities?? I think this is the first time I have heard of such a thing. Actually, even my native village is faced by the elephant problem. One thing I know for sure is that the govt is apathetic to the problem.

[Mr_Bean]

I seriously hope that the authorities don't kill or hurt the elephant. We have to blame ourselves for destroying their habitat.

[Ragul]

It is common for some humans to slash and burn a patch of forest land, and stand facing the media pretending they've been there since last 10,000 years and therefore have a right over the land. This human centric approach with animal world at the bottom of the pyramid in terms of their rights to cohabit and "possess" forest land is spelling disaster for the future of this planet.
Up in Assam the sheer scale of illegal immigration from across the border has put immense pressure on forest land too, a fact subtly suppressed by numerous leftist NGOs with a political agenda.

This should be a wake up call to all citizens of this country. These elephants are messengers of the forest, knocking on our doors to focus our attention to the damage we humans cause and ignore.

---Ragul

[manas.mys]

Just got off the hook with a friend of mine in Mysore. Apparently, there are four elephants in total. Two of them entered into the city and another two stayed outside.

They have been able to tranquilize the animals. I am sure they be taken back to their habitat.

My heart goes out the the people who have suffered the wrath of the beasts.

We have to understand that these animals are extremely sensitive and get irritated very quickly.

But now, i understand things are getting to normal.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by Ragul

It is common for some humans to slash and burn a patch of forest land, and stand facing the media pretending they've been there since last 10,000 years and therefore have a right over the land. This human centric approach with animal world at the bottom of the pyramid in terms of their rights to cohabit and "possess" forest land is spelling disaster for the future of this planet.
Up in Assam the sheer scale of illegal immigration from across the border has put immense pressure on forest land too, a fact subtly suppressed by numerous leftist NGOs with a political agenda.

This should be a wake up call to all citizens of this country. These elephants are messengers of the forest, knocking on our doors to focus our attention to the damage we humans cause and ignore.

---Ragul

+1. This is a pan India problem. Unless the central govt takes up the issue, it is just going to aggravate the situation. Apparently, experts have suggested the re-formation of several identified elephant corridors, but have received no response.

But, then what can we expect from people who don't have elephants (and other wildlife) as votebanks

Originally Posted by manas.mys

Just got off the hook with a friend of mine in Mysore. Apparently, there are four elephants in total. Two of them entered into the city and another two stayed outside.

They have been able to tranquilize the animals. I am sure they be taken back to their habitat.

My heart goes out the the people who have suffered the wrath of the beasts.

We have to understand that these animals are extremely sensitive and get irritated very quickly.

But now, i understand things are getting to normal.

Were all the 4 elephants captured? I just saw in the news that they would be relocated to Bandipur National Park.

True, elephants are extremely sensitive animals and they do tend to panic. When the elephants look at the crowds following them and in front of them, they will be totally stressed out and will panic. I'm sure the attack on the unfortunate person was a panic stricken attack.

[AltoLXI]

They were showing the clips in the TV channels in the morning. The sight of the tusker killing Renuka Prasad and the cow were horrible to watch. It just kneaded both of them on the ground.

[MadTiger]

This is such pathetic and horrendous news. For no reason a man dies. On the other hand I am not sure how the animal escaped and entered the city. One more reason is the threat of poaching and the loss of habitat / food.

[Guna]

Sad part it, some onlookers are supposed to have provoked the elephants, which made things worst.
I have seen people provoking the elephants which are found on the roadsides in the Bandipur forest area.
@madtiger, the elephants came from wild and they have not escaped from a zoo or anything.

[maddy42]

Elephants are actually growing in number and you will be seeing a lot more of such incidents so be warned.

The Food cover in the forest for elephants have seriously depleted and the bamboo has flowered last year in the nagarhole region so you will see more humans killed as the elephants come in contact with them.

The forest department needs to seriously take steps to keep the elephants within the forest. Solar fences DO NOT WORK. Elephants just barge through them or there has been incidents where a log has been thrown on the wires to cut the circuit. This aint no joke!

More food bearing trees which are consumed by Elephants needs to be planted. Instead to make money in the future massive scales of land has been converted to teak forests. These trees are not touched by the animals.

Pity the person killed. Either he was taken by shock or he was in the crowd. Very sad to hear and watch the video. The animal looks very angry.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by MadTiger

This is such pathetic and horrendous news. For no reason a man dies. On the other hand I am not sure how the animal escaped and entered the city. One more reason is the threat of poaching and the loss of habitat / food.

@MadTiger, 'escaped' is not the term to be used in this situation. These are wild elephants it's not that they escaped from a a zoo or enclosure. They merely wandered in search of food and got lost on the way.

Originally Posted by Guna

Sad part it, some onlookers are supposed to have provoked the elephants, which made things worst.
I have seen people provoking the elephants which are found on the roadsides in the Bandipur forest area.

True. The onlookers would have definitely made the elephant panic and behave in this way. But, I guess in cities, it is very difficult to keep out the crowd even in the most dangerous of situations.

Elephants normally, are scared of people and will move out of the way if they spot them. But, in this case there were curious onlookers all around the elephant and that would have scared the elephant and therefore it panicked.

Originally Posted by maddy42

Elephants are actually growing in number and you will be seeing a lot more of such incidents so be warned.

The Food cover in the forest for elephants have seriously depleted and the bamboo has flowered last year in the nagarhole region so you will see more humans killed as the elephants come in contact with them.

Although, the growing elephant population is a good sign, their habitat is shrinking as fast as they are growing and that is the reason these man animal conflicts occur frequently.

Originally Posted by maddy42

The forest department needs to seriously take steps to keep the elephants within the forest. Solar fences DO NOT WORK. Elephants just barge through them or there has been incidents where a log has been thrown on the wires to cut the circuit. This aint no joke!

Solar Fences are not actually very effective. The first few times, it is effective. Once they get a shock, they will hesitate to go near it. Atleast, this is the case near my native village. Sometimes they have uprooted the pillars holding the wires to break the circuits etc. Elephants are intelligent animals and it does not take them too long to solve a problem.

Originally Posted by maddy42

More food bearing trees which are consumed by Elephants needs to be planted. Instead to make money in the future massive scales of land has been converted to teak forests. These trees are not touched by the animals

+1, This is a problem which started right from the British days. The forest dept had planted large areas of forest land with teak for commercial usage. But, that short sightedness has people surrounding the forest paying the price.

[sumathindra]

Another compelling reasons for animals exiting their habitat and entering ours. Thanks to the unprecedented and rampant growth in concrete structures and bad governance. It is time we have larger game reserves and national parks. Else the time is not far when this will be daily news!