Forest officials capture tusker that has killed five villagers

Hassan: Forest officials on Thursday succeeded in capturing a wild elephant named Mountan which was troubling villagers of Halekere in Sakaleshapura taluk. The elephant claimed the lives of five villagers in the last two years. As recently as 15 days ago, the jumbo trampled to death a coffee grower in Kiruhunise village.

Under growing pressure from villagers to capture the rogue elephant, the State Wildlife Warden gave permission to officials to catch two jumbos in the region. The operation headed by deputy conservator of forests Dr Basavaraj spotted the elephant at 6 am on Thursday. Department's sharp shooters Venkatesh and Mujeeb shot tranqulisers. The operation would continue on Friday to capture another rogue elephant.

More than 120 staffers

from the forest department along with elephants Abhimanyu, Arjuna, Mahendra, Bheema, Ganesha participated in the operation.