Karnataka forest department staff capture two wild elephants on single day in Sakleshpur

An angry Mountain uses its trunk to throw mud on mahouts.

An angry Mountain uses its trunk to throw mud on mahouts.

Staff use a machine to lift Mountain onto a truck.

The Forest department officials rescued two wild elephants which had killed humans and had destroyed crops in Sakleshpur taluk in Hassan district on Thursday.

Mountain and Gunda were rescued in a coffee plantation at Halekere.

According to the officials, the elephants had killed five people over the past few months and the State government had ordered their relocation. They were rescued with the help of Dasara elephants Arjuna, Abhimanyu, Bheema, Ganesh and Mahindra. While Mountain was captured around 9 am, Gunda was captured at 3.30 pm.

Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) K N Basavaraj said that it was the first time the department had captured two elephants on a single day.

Chief Conservator of Forests Shankar said that the elephants were radio collared and they would be released into the forest soon.