Jumbos invade Anekal, gorge on millets, tomatos

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Sending panic signals through Anekal in the outskirts of the city, a herd of wild elephants from forests in Tamil Nadu raided farm land in the taluk eating the finger millet, brinjal and tomato crop which were ready for harvesting in several villages on Wednesday.

According to information reaching here, once the jumbos smell finger millet (ragi crop), they come out of nearby forests to feed on them. Following the shortage of foliage in forests, pachyderms enter the villages during the year end as they knew the crops would be ready for harvesting.

This herd which comprised four tuskers and two female elephants, had come from the Muthyalamaduvu forests and crossed the road between Anekal and Gummalapura near Solur, moving to Vanakanahalli village where they gorged on the ragi crop the whole night. Seeing the wild jumbos in their farms, the villagers lit fire crackers to shoo them away Hearing the cracker sound, the jumbos panicked and moved away.

On receipt of information, forest personnel from Anekal Forest Range, led by Forest Officer Krishna arrived at the spot and carried out an operation to drive the elephants back into the forests. They succeeded in pushing back the pachyderms via the AnekalGummalapura Road by lighting firecrackers and making sound. But by then, the pachyderms had caused large-scale damage to finger millet, brinjal and tomato crops in Vanakanahalli, Telegarahalli, Kalanayakanahalli and surrounding areas. Besides, they uprooted several eucalyptus trees.

Jumbos from Tamil Nadu

A few villages in Anekal taluk fall in Bannerghatta National Park and some others are part of Javalagere Forests in Tamil Nadu. To prevent the jumbos from entering villages in Bannerghatta National Park, the forest staff have been deployed on the border as well and have also installed used railway tracks all along the forest border. According to forest officials, the jumbos travelled via a private resort to Solur village from the nearby Muthyalamaduvu forest in Javalagere Forests, Tamil Nadu.