Accordingly a male elephant tragically passed away while trying to cross a fence in Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka on Saturday. Reportedly iron fences were erected in parts of the park to prevent elephants from crossing over into human settlements and the 42 year old elephant had crossed over and raided an agricultural field on Friday and however, the elephant got stuck on the fence on the way back to the Veerahosahalli range.
Conservator of Forests and Director of Nagarahole National Park K.M. Narayanaswamy who was on the spot told "The elephant is an intelligent animal and just like humans, he tried to cross the barricade which was 7 feet tall and the elephant was 5 feet tall. He tried to climb the barricade step by step and got stuck and the diaphragm of the elephant got compressed very heavily due to the pressure that fell on it and because of that the choking of the respiratory organs occurred".
Moreover the death of the tusker elicited strong responses on social media with users criticizing the decision to erect the fence. Hence the death of the elephant also comes two months after the death of another jumbo in the Matthigodu elephant camp. Rowdy Ranga, the elephant was hit by a speeding private bus in the middle of the night. Further Narayanswamy added that the fences cannot be criticized until the project is completed and the officials assess the movement patterns of the elephants.
