A video showing a herd of elephants with a calf among them being chased and scared by people on an excavator has triggered outrage in Karnataka. Alarmingly, the incident happened inside a wildlife reserve.
Three elephants, including a calf, can be seen walking on a forest road when a JCB excavator startles them. People inside the excavator moved the vehicle aggressively towards the elephant. While one elephant tries to stand its ground in front of the machine, the other elephant is seen protecting the calf. Even as the elephants back off, the excavator is seen pursuing the elephants for a few metres.
The incident happened inside the Bhadra Tiger reserve, which is a major elephant habitat. The excavator was employed by the forest department for road works within the reserve. An FIR has been registered in the Tanigebail Wildlife range under the Wildlife Protection Act. Speaking to news18.com, S. Prabakaran, the Director of Bhadra Tiger Reserve informed that the owner of the excavator who was present on the spot has been arrested and sent to judicial custody. “They claim they encountered the elephant while the works were on and to save themselves they tried to scare away the elephants. But we have booked them for teasing and troubling the wild animals,” he said.
A bunch of miscreants tried to scare a elephant herd using a JCB excavator. The incident happened near Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in Chikkamagaluru. The herd also had a calf but that didn't stop these hooligans. They seem to be enjoying it & deriving sadistic pleasure. #wildlife pic.twitter.com/EtNHniFVXD— Harish Upadhya (@harishupadhya) March 22, 2022
Wildlife activists have lashed out at the forest department for not taking enough precautions while carrying out civil works inside a forest reserve. “It’s appalling that such an incident happened inside a protected area. Didn’t they inform the workers not to disturb wildlife? We should stop the excessive use of heavy machinery inside the core forest area. Whichever reserve forest we go to, we are seeing JCBs and bulldozers inside core areas, this should stop,” says wildlife activist Joseph Hoover.
As per the Elephant Census of 2017, Karnataka has the highest elephant population in the country with 6,049 pachyderms.
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