Forest guard attacked by wild jumbo during elephant count

Yelandur: A wild jumbo attacked a forest department personnel during elephant census under Biligiri Rangana Betta (BR Hills) limits in Yelandur taluk of Chamarajanagar district on Thursday.

The three-day elephant census for 2024 began in the southern states on Thursday. The exercise will be carried out in 65 forest areas and 563 areas of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, MM Hills Wildlife, BRT Tiger Reserve, Bannerghatta National Park, Madikeri Territorial, Madikeri Wildlife and Virajpet, Cauvery Wildlife and Kolar conducted. They employ 1,689 employees for this purpose.

The accident was reported from Amekere camp in BR Hills area on the first day of census. Three forest department employees were busy doing the census when one of them was suddenly attacked by a wild giant animal.

M Kumaraswamy of the forest patrol team was attacked by the jumbo. However, he escaped with minor injuries. According to authorities, he was admitted to Taluk Hospital in Yelandur and later discharged.