Elephant spotted, tahsildar has miraculous escape

Residents of the villages near here, were a worried lot as an elephant strayed into their fileds, on Thursday and camped at Gowdaiahna Doddi. Forest department personnel were trying to drive it back into the forest till dark in the evening.

Tahsildar Jagadish had a miraculous escape. As he went near the sugarcane fields where the elephant was supposed to have hidden, the elephant suddenly appeared before him. However, it rushed back into the fields as it was also shocked due to the presence of a huge number of onlookers.

The elephant has crossed Doddarasinakere, Chikkamarigowdana Doddi and other villages before reaching Gowdaiahna Doddi. Crops in these villages have been damaged. It even pulled down an electric pole. But, there was neither casuality nor harm as there was no power supply at that time.

Conservator of Forests Prakash said, the elephant would have come from Muthathi forests.
Assistant Conservator of Forests Ramalinegowda, Maddur Range Forest Officer Jaffer, Police Inspector Gangadharaswamy and other officials camped in the village to supervise the operation.

As the news of the elephant spotted in fields spread, thousands of people from neighbouring villages descended on Gowdaiahna Doddi, hindering the efforts of the Forest personnel to drive away the elephant.