Last Updated: January 06, 2023, 19:08 IST
After the news of Bhaira’s capture spread, many villagers gathered to watch as he was loaded onto a truck and shifted to a far-off forest(Representational photo: Reuters)
Recently, it was reported that the ‘Bhaira’- the elephant, who had killed two villagers, was captured by the Karnataka Forest Department after a special operation was launched to catch him
The terror of ‘Bhaira’ the elephant is back in the Mudigere area of Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru district. Weeks after the alleged success of ‘Operation Bhaira’ to capture the trouble-causing elephant, the locals are claiming the Karnataka Forest Department caught the wrong pachyderm and the tusker is still making the lives of the villagers difficult in the area.
Many incidents of clashes between humans and elephants have been reported across Karnataka off late. In the Mudigere area of the Chikkamagaluru district, three elephants have been making the lives of farmers hell with frequent rampages. The worse of the three is identified as ‘Bhaira’, by the forest department.
Over the months, multiple protests have been organised by villagers demanding to trap these pachyderms. In one such protest that went wrong, angry villagers attacked MLA M P Kumaraswamy who tried to pacify them.
Recently, it was reported that the ‘Bhaira’ elephant, who had killed two villagers, was captured by the Karnataka Forest Department after a special operation was launched to catch him.
After the news of Bhaira’s capture spread, many villagers gathered to watch as he was loaded onto a truck and shifted to a far-off forest.
However, the relief was short-lived as a few days ago, villagers realised that the forest department caught the wrong elephant. Instead of Bhaira, they caught some random tusker and shifted it to a different forest.
Now images and videos of both elephants – Bhaira and the one caught by the forest department-are doing rounds on social media.
People are claiming that both elephants look different as Bhaira’s tusk was a bit curved while the other elephant that was captured has a smooth straight tusk.
“If Bhaira was caught according to what the forest department has said, why did they have to continue the search? It means that even they know the elephant that was caught is not Bhaira” said Venkanna, a villager.
B B Ningiah, former MLA has also made a similar claim. “These forest department guys have caught some other rogue elephant and told everyone it is Bhaira. If there is just another elephant trouble in the area, we will state a protest for sure” he said.
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