Forest teams, villagers join night drive to push elephant herd out of Belagavi fields
Forest officials in Khanapur taluk, Belagavi, are working with villagers to guide a nine-strong elephant herd away from paddy fields and back into the forest.
Forest Department teams in Khanapur taluk of Belagavi district are working through the night alongside local farmers to steer a herd of wild elephants away from standing crops and back into the forest.
The herd, which has been moving through paddy fields, has proved difficult to turn back. Officers have spent several nights on combing operations and have collected details from farmers whose crops were damaged.
At least nine elephants have been sighted, among them two calves. Assistant Conservator of Forests Basavaraj Valad said seven of the animals were found near the paddy fields of Pali village and two near Abanali village, with two having split from the main group.
He said the herd may have migrated in search of food from the forest areas of Haliyal, Castle Rock, Jagalpet, Tinai Ghat and Ganeshgudi. Such a sighting is a first for the Belagavi forest division, he added, and the animals are being monitored with drones and by deployed forest staff.
Teams led by Mr. Valad and Range Forest Officer Sayyadsab Nadaf carried out an all-night operation that confirmed the herd's presence in the paddy fields of Pali village, within the Bhimgad Wildlife Zone. The elephants have been moving through Pali, Hemmadaga, Abanali, Dongaragaon and Shiroliwada in the Khanapur sub-division.
On the night of September 16, a lone tusker, two calves and four other elephants were sighted near Pali village. Attempts to drive them off with firecrackers and other noise-making devices did not work as intended: the animals moved erratically along the edges of the fields rather than heading back into the forest, leaving officials in a tight spot.
Local villagers have been enlisted to help track the herd's movements. Motorcyclists fled after spotting the elephants near a forest road close to Pali village in the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, and by the time forest personnel reached the spot the animals had moved on.
Deputy Conservator of Forests N. E. Kranthi urged people not to shout, approach the animals, burst firecrackers or take any risky action without informing forest officials. Efforts to guide the herd safely back into the forest are continuing, he said.