30-km trench puts a brake on elephant menace

The 30-km stretch elephant trench dug by the Forest department has yielded results putting brake on the wild jumbo menace in the villages located on the periphery of Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Chamarajanagar district.

The wild elephants were straying into the villages attacking people and damaging crops. The personnel of the forest department and farmers were keeping a night vigil and chasing the jumbos into the forests. Everyday, the department personnel on patrol, were driving the elephants away from the National Highway 67.

Despite taking all these steps, the jumbos used to stray into the farm lands and destroy the crops. The Forest department, which identified the entry points, dug trenches and also erected rail fencing to keep the jumbos away. The measure has proved successful.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve Director T Balachandra said that a 30-km long elephant trench had been created at Onkar, Kundukere and Gopalaswamy betta range and trench needs to be dug for another 5 km more.