Forest guard injured during elephant count in Nagarahole

A forest guard engaged in enumeration of elephant population was injured when he tried to evade a charging tusker at Nagarahole on Friday.

A forest guard engaged in enumeration of elephant population was injured when he tried to evade a charging tusker at Nagarahole on Friday.

The guard, Abhishek, sighted an elephant during the enumeration exercise and it suddenly turned towards him. Abhishek scurried for cover but stumbled and fell suffering shoulder injuries.

The incident occurred in the Anechowkur range of Nagarahole. He was first taken to a nearby hospital in Madikeri for first aid before being shifted to Mysuru for treatment.

Director of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve C. Harshakumar said Abhishek was out of danger and the injuries were not life threatening.

Meanwhile, the three-day elephant enumeration exercise came to a close on Friday, with the completion of the waterhole count. In all ,135 waterholes were covered as part of the exercise, and the field staff recorded a count of more than 400 elephants on the third day alone within the Nagarahole Tiger reserve limits. In the Kabini backwaters, around 150 elephants were counted, and it was more concentrated in the D.B. Kuppe range, said Mr. Harshakumar.

There are 91 beats spread across eight divisions of Nagarahole and nearly 300 staff took part in the synchronised enumeration exercise. In Bandipur, over 400 staff were deployed for the exercise and 115 waterholes were covered. The  number of elephants sighted was impressive and the authorities expect the final count to be high, said Ramesh Kumar, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

The elephant enumeration exercise was taken up in both protected areas and in territorial divisions across the State. The data will be scrutinised and subjected to statistical analysis before arriving at a final figure for the elephant population range in Karnataka. The synchronised exercise was also taken up in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Goa.