Forester killed in wild elephant attack in Madikeri during a mission
MADIKERI: A staff deployed in the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of the forest department in Kodagu has been killed in a wild elephant attack.
The attack was reported during the elephant chasing mission at Kedakal in Madikeri taluk on Monday morning. Girish (35), a staff of the Kushalnagar range forest department, is the victim.
During early morning hours on Monday, Murugesh, a resident of Kedakal witnessed a near-death experience after a tusker ambushed him while he was riding a bike. He missed the elephant attack by an inch; however, suffered minor injuries after he fell off the bike while escaping the attack.
Following this incident, a group of 15 Rapid Response Team staff were deployed to the task of chasing the wild elephants herded across the estates of Kedakal, back to the forest. The team tracked the elephants and burst crackers to chase them.
However, a wild tusker retaliated and attacked the foresters. While others ran for their lives, Girish was caught in the attack. While the foresters continued to burst crackers to scare the elephant away, the tusker continued to attack Girish. He was seriously injured and was shifted to the District Hospital in Madikeri.
However, he did not respond to the treatment and died.
“The staff was well-equipped to carry out the mission. But the elephant ambushed the staff. Girish even had crackers in his pockets, but could not avoid the attack,” confirmed AT Poovaiah, Madikeri DCF.
Post-mortem was conducted and the incident was recorded at Madikeri police station. Girish is survived by a sister. He was with the department for the past eight years.