Woman suffers broken bones in wild elephant attack at Hanagod

Hanagod: A woman, who was tending her cattle, suffered broken bones, when one of the two wild elephants, which was running on hearing people screaming, knocked her down and stamped her leg in the process near Hadwalu Kere close to Haralahalli village on Tuesday afternoon.

The injured woman is 55-year-old Puttalakshmamma of Haralahalli village. She is being treated at K.R. Hospital in Mysuru.

It is common for the Forest Department personnel to drive the wild elephants back to the forest during night. On Tuesday, a herd of elephants had stayed put near Hadwalu Kere Lake and a team of Forest staff led by Deputy Range Forest Officer (DRFO) Dwarkanath was keeping a watch on the wild elephants to drive them back to the forest during dark.

But yesterday afternoon, a large crowd of villagers gathered near the Lake to watch the wild elephants and they began to make noise by screaming which panicked the wild elephants, which began to run helter-skelter. Meanwhile, Puttalakshmamma, who was grazing her cattle near the Lake, began to run on seeing the wild elephants running towards her.

As the panicked elephants began to run, one of the elephants knocked down Puttalakshmamma, who came in the way, and ran over her leg. Puttalakshmamma suffered a fracture on her right leg and a broken hand. She was immediately rushed to Hunsur General Hospital by the Forest staff, where she was provided first-aid and was later shifted to K.R. Hospital in Mysuru.

Meanwhile, one of the wild elephants kicked a cow belonging to one Kalegowda, which was grazing near the Lake resulting in the cow’s death.

Menace of wild elephants has increased in the region since a couple of days. These elephants which come out of forests in search of food and water enter human habitat and are destroying crops besides killing cattle that come in their way.

The wild elephants that had stayed put on the banks of Lakshmanatheerta River, were being driven back to the Forest staff but the efforts of the Forest staff went in vain as the villagers began to scream and make noise which panicked the elephants. The villagers have urged the Forest Department authorities to take steps to prevent wild elephants from entering human habitat and destroy crops & properties.