Herd Of Five Elephants Including A Calf Get Stuck In A Pond In Karnataka, Rescued Hours Later

Wild animals, including elephants, often stray into human settlements for a number of reasons including in the quest for food and water, especially in the summers when the water sources in the forests dry up.?

But more often than not they get chased away bursting crackers and with fire torches.

BCCL

These animals also get injured and sometimes killed after they fall into ditches and wells inside plantations the night.

A herd of five elephants had a lucky escape after they fell into a pond in a coffee plantation in Kodagu, Karnataka.

The incident happened in Palangala village near Virajpet on Tuesday night.

BCCL

Mittu Aiyappa, the owner of the plantation alerted the Forest officials on Wednesday morning after he spotted five wild elephants, including a calf trapped in the muddy water inside his pond.

While Forest Department officials and police personnel reached the spot immediately, they could not proceed with the rescue mission as a section of the locals were protesting demanding a permanent solution for the elephant menace.?

The Forest Officials who promised that their demands will be looked into convinced the locals to end their protest and the elephant heard was rescued by around 11 am on Wednesday.

BCCL

According to locals, the area which has a number of large coffee plantations has become the favourite location for large elephant herds who are looking for food and water.

Locals are wary about the increasing number of elephant raids on their land as three people have been killed this year so far and many more have been injured.

They have been demanding that the elephants which stray into coffee plantations should be captured and relocated.

They also allege that the existing mechanisms including solar fencing, trenches, and spikes have proven inefficient to stop the jumbos.