Two Forest department personnel were injured when the bullets fired in air to drive elephants away hit them, at Ponnadahalli in Periyapatna taluk on Thursday.
Forest guards Ganesh and Basappa of Dubare elephant camp are the two injured persons. They are undergoing treatment at KR Hospital in Mysuru and are out of danger.
Raghu, a resident of the village, spotted two jumbos amid jowar crops at 5 am. First, he mistook the animals for wild boars and later found a pair of jumbos feeding on the crops. He immediately informed the Forest department.
A team of forest personnel led by Deputy Conservator of Forests Balachandra arrived at the spot and monitored the movements of the pachyderms, planning to drive them away after dusk.
Hundreds of people gathered at the spot, hindering the operation. It was difficult for the Forest and police personnel to control the crowd.
They began the operation at 5.30 pm, by bursting fire crackers from all the three sides of the field. Apparently scared, the pachyderms ran helter-skelter destroying the crops and sought refuge at an arecanut farm.
The forest personnel again burst crackers, made them return to the jowar field and successfully drove them into the forests, through the route through which they had strayed into the village.
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