| ANEKAL (Bangalore Urban): Driving the herd of around 15 wild elephants, which killed four people over the past few days, back into the forests of Tamil Nadu, is no mean task for the forest department. As senior forest officials sat with taluk administration officials and police on Monday to chart out a roadmap, the major challenge before them was preventing the elephants' re-entry into the city. The elephants had given a hint of the damage they could do in Sarjapur and Dommasandra. Deepak Sarmah, PCCF (Wildlife), who spearheaded the operation, told TOI they took utmost care so the elephants don't stray beyond the railway track in Huskur, where the areas are thickly populated. Electronics City and other major industrial hubs are located within a few kilometres. "People should be careful when elephants are with their little ones. They are extra cautious and can turn ferocious if they feel a threat to the family. We took the help of local forest guards and officers to draw a map to drive out the elephants. The idea was to take them through an area where there is little or no human habitation, to reach the forest. For the same reason, we waited till evening as there is less human interruption," he added. C Venkatesh, ACF, Bangalore South range, said they had to alert villagers along the way about the elephant drive and asked them to stay indoors as far as possible. "The route to the forest near the Tamil Nadu border is comparatively safer, as there are eucalyptus plantations along many stretches," he said. 4 captive elephants to the rescue Forest officials also decided to take the help of captive elephants, two from Bannerghatta and three from Mysore, to facilitate their men to chase the wild ones. However, having known that all the captive elephants would reach Huskur only by night, officials began the operation at 3.50pm, as soon as the first captive elephant arrived at the scene from Bannerghatta. Forest guards and watchers surrounded the lake bed and started bursting crackers to drive the elephants into a corner leading to the route, as per the plan. The public around the area were asked to maintain silence and repeated warnings were made over the public address system. Once the stage was set, more crackers were burst, with guards making a huge noise to scare the elephants to march ahead. Separate teams were deployed with clear in structions on walkie-talkies, so the elephants didn't stray into other areas. Forest officials also sought the help of traffic police to control and stop traffic at points where the herd is likely to cross major roads. By 6pm, the elephant herd had crossed two villages and was marching close to Harohalli. Route map: back to the forest Huskur Lake - Muthanallur - Huskur village - Harohalli -- Chandapura (road crossing) -- Mayasandra -- Samandur - Muthyalamaduvu near Tamil Nadu border -- Bannerghatta forest 'Depleting forest cover a major threat' The major reason elephants stray into villages in Anekal is human intervention and lack of forest cover. In many places, forest land has been encroached upon. The vegetation is damaged, so elephants stray into villages in search of food. Also, there's security at the forest borders, as there are no proper trenches or solar fencing. I'm meeting the forest minister soon to submit a se t of demands to improve the situation.  via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHMlfrh0RHnEciqawSzOLM3EM2GaQ&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Operation-tusker-begins/articleshow/20752297.cms | |||
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