Watch: Elephant herd gets trapped in Karnataka canal, rescued by forest officials

“Linear infrastructure in elephant corridors are testing their limits. These we’re lucky to have been rescued later by Forest Department,” Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda tweeted along with the video of the struggling tuskers.

Watch the video here:

Linear infrastructure in elephant corridors are testing their limits…
These we’re lucky to have been rescued later by Forest Department. pic.twitter.com/pwSP5cJ4KX

— Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) January 10, 2022

Karnataka forest officials said the incident happened at the Lakshmana Tirtha river canal in the Hanagodu village under Hunsur taluk of the Mysuru district on Monday morning.

A senior forest official told indianexpress.com the herd was trapped in the canal after villagers tried to chase it away. The elephants were unable to move out of the canal because of the water and the slippery banks added to their woes, the official said.

“The herd was chased by a group of villagers and finally got a space in the canal where the elephants managed to cross the canal,” the officer said. “The elephants were not harmed in any way,” the officer also said.

After getting out of the canal, the group managed to enter the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve.

Watch: The herd finally managed to cross the canal and entered the forest area of #Nagarahole tiger reserve. (2/2) @IndianExpress @IEBengaluru pic.twitter.com/G05eeH2s8m

— Darshan Devaiah B P (@DarshanDevaiahB) January 11, 2022

Many pointed that better planning must be in place to avoid such untoward situations and help prevent rising human-wildlife conflicts in the future.

Here’s what netizens had to say:

This is why wildlife friendly planning and development is required. Wildlife do have their rights and ignoring those will only increase the conflicts and compromise the animal welfare.pic.twitter.com/VKP3pRxMDm

— Sudha Ramen 🇮🇳 (@SudhaRamenIFS) January 10, 2022

People seem to be creating a huge noise in order to force the elephants climb without perhaps realising that they are making them nervous. There is need to educate such people through regular awareness program. Lucky Forest Dept rescued the animals.

— K.P. Mohan (@kaypeem) January 10, 2022

a wet 45° incline is easy engineering but a nightmare for any large animal. 30° slopes shd be the standard.

— MeanderingWonk (@MeanderingWonk) January 10, 2022

And why the people are shouting and frightening them 😑😞… we should consider some best way to save those.. coz, it’s common that animals may come to drink or refresh themselves. So, we should have some steps kind of for every 500m, even that will be useful to humans also.

— Vinay G. 🇮🇳 (@gokadasai) January 10, 2022

There struggle n helplessness is pitiful and painful to watch. Relevant authorities must come up with a solution for hassle free crossing

— Sugandha🇮🇳 (@sugandha_03) January 10, 2022

it was difficult for them.but they did not give up..how sweet message they are giving us.

— Ruby yadav (@SuccessfulRuby) January 10, 2022

That’s the sad state of the wildlife.. hope the environmental ministry takes appropriate actions to provide smooth track for animals.

— Sana T (@santhd) January 10, 2022

ALWAYS the embankments should be made in steps & NEVER in slopes.
EVERY YEAR so many people die from accidental falling into irrigation canals – just because they can’t step out
It gets worse if the embankments are muddy like after rains.

— Upsham Goel (@UpshamGoel) January 10, 2022

This would also be tough for humans in case depth is more and the main reason for this is the slippery banks. Many a times in drowning cases a person is able to reach the sides but not able to climb up due to lack of proper holding space.

— Risheesh Khajuria (@RisheeshK) January 10, 2022

So disturbing too see their struggle, forest dept is doing godly work

— JayJayWanti (@Indus4valley) January 10, 2022

[With inputs from ENS Bengaluru]