Two elephants that held the city of palaces to ransom were shifted to Bandipur, but not without trouble.
Two elephants that spread panic in Mysore city a day ago were released into the observation enclosure of the Bandipur National Park forest on Thursday.
Forest officials said the jumbos were taken to Bandipur National Park in two lorries, and released around 4 pm. The enclosure provides a natural setting for the elephants, helping them recuperate from the trauma they had undergone in Mysore.
The pachyderms had strayed into Mysore city on Wednesday morning, and one of them, a young bull, went on a rampage, killing a 55-year-old man and injuring three others. It also gored to death a milch cow tethered to a traffic signpost, and damaged a few vehicles.
Its older companion, a makhna (tusk-less male jumbo), stayed put in Naidu Farm, a private property, where it was tranquilized and captured in the evening.
Earlier reports had mentioned the older elephant was a cow, but was later confirmed that it was a makhna. The bull elephant continued to throw its weight around on Thursday, while it was ferried to Bandipur, about 85 km from Mysore.
It seemed scared and disturbed, and kept on moving. The lorry driver had a tough time in keeping the rocking vehicle under control.
Forest officials said the jumbo trip to Bandipur took more than six hours, as against the normal two. The lorry’s tyres went flat twice on the way, delaying the journey. It even ran into a ditch once, thanks to the unruly passenger.
A second lorry transporting the makhna, too, was delayed as it had to follow the one in which the bull was travelling. Forest officials at Bandipur received the two elephants, and listed them as rogue ones.
“We have listed these two elephants under the rogue category. We will put them through rigorous hard work and training to tame them. Trained elephants of the forest department will also be employed to tame these two. We will also christen them soon.
For now, we have allowed them to move around within the cordoned area. We will watch their behaviour for a couple of days. At this moment they are roaming around in their natural surroundings and are under observation,” a forest department official said.
Earlier, two Dasara elephants from the Mysore Palace —Arjuna and Abhimanyu — guided their wild cousins into the waiting lorries. The kumkis (trained elephants) ignored the tantrums thrown by the young one, and at one point, even lifted it onto the lorry equipped to ferry pachyderms.
The smaller elephant was corralled overnight at Kukkarahalli Kere, while the older was lodged in Naidu Farm.
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