Kodagu: A forest department personnel was killed in an elephant attack during an operation to drive the jumbo back to the forest at Kedakal village near Suntikoppa in Karnataka's Kodagu district on Monday.
The deceased has been identified as Girish (35), a staff member of the forest department's elephant task force. Earlier, the forest department staff had gone for an operation to drive the jumbo back to the forest in Kedakal village near Sunticoppa. Girish was seriously injured due to an elephant attack during the operation. He was immediately rushed to Madikeri District Hospital where he died due to grievous injury which he received during the attack.
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The jumbo first attacked two persons. It attacked Murugesh, a resident of Suntikoppa, who was going to cut wood on a bike from Kedakal village near Suntikoppa. Murugesh was seriously injured and admitted to the hospital. The bike was damaged in the incident. Thereafter, the elephant moved to a garden which was a short distance away and attacked another person as well.
The forest department personnel, who came to know about the incident, came to the spot and launched a search for the elephant. A 20-member Rapid Response Team (RRT)) team tried to drive away the elephant to the forest. During this period, an elephant attacked the staff of the forest department.
Last week, a similar incident happened in Hassan. Venkatesh, a forest department personnel was killed due to the attack of a wild elephant, Bhima, in Aluru Taluk of Hassan district on August 31. Venkatesh was a sharpshooter and elephant darting expert. The forest department personnel who had come to administer anaesthesia to an elephant was attacked in a village near Alur. Venkatesh was seriously injured after being trampled by the elephant. He was admitted to the hospital for treatment but succumbed later.
