Agricultural worker dies in elephant attack in Chikkamagaluru, local people stage protests

An agricultural worker died after he was attacked by a wild elephant at Pura village near Hunasehalli in Chikkamagaluru taluk on Monday.

Yallappa, 45, a native of Hanagal taluk in Haveri district, was working in a coffee estate belonging to Nagesh Gowda. While he was on the way to his residence, a wild elephant trampled him to death. Yallappa had moved to Chikkamagaluru for livelihood.

Following the incident, people gathered at Balehonnur in N.R. Pura taluk, condemning the incident and demanding a permanent solution to the human-elephant conflict in the area. As people were gathering in Balehonnur for the protest, the officers shifted the dead body to Shivamogga for the post-mortem.

The protesters, blaming the Forest Department for the death, demanded that senior officers of the district administration meet the protesters and assure them a permanent solution to the problem. They alleged that the Elephant Task Force had been ineffective. The local people were not alerted about the movement of the wild animal in the area.

E. Shivashankar, DCF, met the protesters and said that the department would begin the preparations to capture the elephant that caused the death by Tuesday. He also assured them of solar fences and railway barricades to avoid the movement of elephants into human habitats.

Police were deployed to handle the protest. SP Jitendra Kumar Dayama and other officers visited the spot and pacified the protesters.