The elephants, a young bull and cow, spread panic for about three-hours, forcing authorities to declare a holiday to all educational institutions.
Mysore city woke up to a jumbo-sized problem on Wednesday as two wild elephants strayed in and went on a rampage, killing a 55-year-old man.
The elephants, a young bull and cow, spread panic for about three-hours, forcing authorities to declared a holiday to all educational institutions. Officials fired tranquilizer darts at the jumbos, before deploying four kumkis (trained elephants) to capture the beasts.
Forest officials said four elephants might have come from T Narasipur, about 40 km from the city. While two of them entered the city, the other two retreated into the forest. Before they were caught, the male elephant had killed the man, and gored and trampled to death a cow tethered to a traffic signpost, besides injuring three persons, including one seriously.
Balaji, who escaped the wild attack, said, the deceased man, security guard Renukaprasad, was having tea at a stall at the narrow entrance to Narayana Shastry Road in city centre when the tusker hurtled menacingly towards him.
“The elephant came from More Mega Market. I heard the beast trumpeting, and on seeing the elephant, started running in the opposite direction. I saw Renukaprasad following me, but when I looked back a second time, he was seen trying to find shelter in front of a house. The elephant caught hold of Renuka with its trunk and pushed him against a wall. It then repeatedly gored and trampled him, till the man collapsed on the stairs of the house,” Balaji said and added that blood was dripping from its tusks when the elephant moved away from the body. Hundreds of people watched helplessly as the man was killed.
After killing Renukaprasad, the elephant moved towards KR Road, and found the cow. Though tied to a traffic signpost, the cow resisted the charge with a counterattack, but was overpowered. “I tried to untie the cow so that it could escape. But others prevented me from going near the cow,” its owner Srinivas said.
Three persons were injured while trying to escape the rampage. One of them, Violet, was seriously hurt. Siddamma and Balakrishna have been admitted to hospital.
The rogue tusker then strolled into the JSS Ladies’ College, and onwards to Oval Grounds and Maharani’s College. From there it proceeded to the west of Saraswatipuram, with a crowd of people, including police in riot gear, forest officials and veterinarians.
Forest department official M Ravi fired five tranquilizer darts at the elephant, but they took effect only after two hours, instead of the normal 45 minutes. The tusker calmed down after reaching Kukkarahalli Tank behind Crawford Hall—the administrative hub of Mysore University— and hid in a thicket. It was captured around 10.30 am.
Meanwhile the other elephant, an older cow, was hiding in a private farm. She was caught around 6.30 pm. Four kumkis, two each from the Mysore palace and forest department, were involved in the operation. The elephants were first spotted by Swamy, a newspaper boy, around 5.45 am at Udayagiri.
“I saw them hurrying towards the city, occasionally trumpeting at passing vehicles. I thought they belonged to some circus, but when I failed to notice any mahout, I reported the matter to the police,” he said.
The elephants got separated after entering the city. The tusker damaged a few two-wheelers parked at More Mega Market, before entering Narayana Shastry Road. The captured elephants would be shifted to Bandipur National Park, forest minister CH Vijayashankar said. Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa announced an ex gratia of Rs5 lakh to the deceased’s family and Rs1 lakh to each of the injured.
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