Kollegal: Seven people sustained pellet injuries when Forest Department personnel opened fire to scare a herd of elephants that had camped in paddy fields at Madhuvanahallli in Chamarajanagar district yesterday.
Some of the injured have been admitted to K.R. Hospital as there are no facilities for scanning at Kollegal. The injured have been identified as Sujith, Siddhartha, Raghuveer, Mahesh, Praveen, Siddhartha and Darshan. They are the residents of Anjaneyapura near Madhuvanahallli. While some have received pellet wound near neck region, some others have sustained injuries on their abdomen and hands.
A herd of six elephants, including two calves, had strayed into the village in the morning hours and had destroyed crops. The elephants were camping at the sugarcane field of Subbashetty when the Forest Department personnel were summoned to the spot. When all their efforts to drive the elephants back into the forest went in vain, the Department shooters shot in the air. Meanwhile, some villagers who were sitting on top of a tree to watch the firing operation sustained pellet injuries. The shooters were not aware of the presence of people atop trees.
people who sustained pellet injuries when Forest Department personnel opened fire to scare the herd
Also, the shooting operation was chaotic as several dogs had accompanied the villagers in the area and when the dogs began to bark indiscriminately, the elephants panicked and started running helter-skelter.
DCF (M.M. Hills Range) V. Yedukondalu said that over 60 Department personnel headed out to Madhuvanahalli to drive away the elephants that were moving around menacingly.
“We wanted to drive them off to B.R. Hills Forests but elephants had camped in a sugarcane field. The cane grass was nearly 15ft high, with near-zero visibility. When our staff fired in the air, pellets hit seven teenagers watching the operation from top of trees and rocks,” he said. Those shifted to Mysuru’s K.R. Hospital for a procedure to remove pellets from their bodies are out of danger. Later, the Department successfully drove the elephant herd back into the forest, Yedukondalu said.
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