Forest officials capture elephant for stealing rice bags from fair price shops in Sakleshpur
Forest Department officials succeeded in capturing a makna — a tuskless male elephant — that had been causing trouble in parts of Sakleshpur, in Karnataka, on May 19.
With the help of a group of tamed elephants, officials caught the animal, nicknamed Old Makna, in a coffee estate near Bare in Sakleshpur taluk. Earlier, a radio collar had been fixed on the animal, which was then released in a distant forest. However, it had returned to Sakleshpur and continued to cause trouble.
The presence of the wild elephant on NH 75, near Kollahalli in Sakleshpur taluk, disrupted the movement of traffic on the highway for some time, on May 18, 2023. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Often, the animal was spotted taking away rice bags from fair price shops, and also damaging houses in search of food. On May 18, the animal had taken away a rice bag from the fair price shop at Kollahalli in Sakleshpur taluk.
Under the leadership of K. Harish, Deputy Conservator of Forests of Hassan division, officials tracked down the animal to a private estate. They captured the animal, which was put in a truck designed to carry wild elephants.
