A herd of 13 wild elephants, which had been camping in the coffee plantations, was driven to the forest area by the Forest Department.
The herd, including a calf and three male tuskers, were loitering in Abhyatmangala near Nelyahudikeri from the last few days.
The Forest Department staff burst firecrackers to scare the pachyderms and forced the herd to make its way into Dubare Reserve Forest area.
The operation was headed by RFO Aruna. DRFO Vilas Gowda, forest guard Charan, Forest Department staff Dharmapal, Jagadish, Albert, Vasudeva, and Rapid Response team member Aashik and Subrahmanya were present.
Recently 23 elephants were driven to the forest area from Valnuru village.
But the elephants are returning to coffee plantations, causing panic among plantation workers and growers.
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