A mahout was killed allegedly by an elephant inside the Art of Living (AOL) ashram on Kanakapura Road here on Monday. Now there is an appeal to shift the elephant out of the campus in the interest of both the animal and people around.
An AOL spokesperson said it was a “freak accident”. “The jurisdictional RFO and the police know about it and the wildlife head and Aranya Bhavan have been kept in the loop,” said the spokesperson, without divulging any further details.
Jurisdictional Forest Department officials said the incident occurred when the mahout, Rajesh R., 34, approached the elephant to give it a wash. “The incident happened on Monday afternoon. As of now, the elephant is lodged in the ashram and another person has been asked to look after it. We have given instructions to people not to go near the elephant unless it has to be fed and for medical check-up,” an official said.
Joseph Hoover, convener, United Conservation Movement, and others, under the umbrella of Friends of Animals, have appealed to the Forest Department to take care of the tusker until its “aggressiveness ebbs”.
“If the tusker has been in a constant state of musth, it would be prudent to release it for rehabilitation, in the interest of both the animal and people who are in close proximity to the elephant. The captive elephant, which has been restrained to a small area, should be relocated to an elephant camp either at Bannerghatta or Nagarhole Tiger Reserve,” the appeal stated.
“It has been a practice among private elephant owners in Tamil Nadu to send their tuskers to Madumalai Tiger Reserve to cohabit and de-stress at Theppekadu,” it stated.
But jurisdictional Forest Department officials said the decision to shift the elephant out of the AOL campus needs to be taken by the “higher authorities”.
