Wild jumbo falls off cliff, dies during ‘Scare away wild jumbos' operation

Sringeri: A wild jumbo died after it slipped off a wet rocky cliff while it was being chased away by forest officials at Guddethota near a coffee plantation on Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, forest officials had started ‘Scare away wild jumbos’ operation, after Sringeri MLA TD Raje Gowda instructed them to scare away the jumbos that had been damaging coffee plantations around Basapura in Malnad.

Upon sighting the three tuskers on Wednesday morning, officials tried to scare them off by bursting crackers and making loud sounds. It was while being chased away that one of the elephants slipped from the cliff and sustained severe injuries. He later died on the spot.

Forest officials warned people against visiting the spot where the elephant had died, as there was a danger of the other two elephants, who are still roaming around in the area, attacking them

Meanwhile, people held the forest officials responsible for the tusker’s death, saying they could have adopted some other method to chase away the elephants.