Injured elephant treated by SOS team, critical

The jumbo was hit by a container truck near Sanamavu Reserve forest on Hosur-Krishnagiri national highway

January 16, 2021 11:49 pm | Updated 11:49 pm IST - Hosur

The elephant under treatment by a medical team at the Aiyyur forest camp in Denkanikottai on Saturday.

The elephant under treatment by a medical team at the Aiyyur forest camp in Denkanikottai on Saturday.

A 40-year-old male elephant that was hit by a container truck near Sanamavu Reserve forest on Hosur-Krishnagiri national highway was moved to Aiyyur forest camp for treatment. The elephant’s hind body was incapacitated with fractures and is feared to have suffered internal injuries, according to the forest department.

A wildlife SOS team from Karnataka had arrived to Aiyyur forest to attend to the grievously injured elephant.

According to the District Forest Office Prabhu, bone fracture in the right hind foot was confirmed through X ray by the SOS team.

On Friday night, a Chennai bound container truck from Bengaluru was speeding through the Hosur-Krishnagiri highway near Sanamavu forest range, when it hit the elephant that was crossing the highway. The truck driver, a native of Tuticorin, was also injured in the accident and was admitted to Hosur government hospital. The man has been booked under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The Hosur-Krishnagiri national highway running through the reserve forests that lie on the migratory route of elephants was yet to be equipped with speed monitors and floodlights that could help prevent such accidents.

Absence of flood lights to light up the otherwise mist-filled dark nights on the highway, which is also the inter-state container corridor, has caused many accidents killing elephants. The NHAI also does not have speed monitors to regulate the speed of trucks that take to the highway at nights, which is also the time when elephants cross the highway.

In 2015, an elephant calf was killed by a speeding car near Perandapalli on the highway. In 2016, an adult elephant was hit by a bus near Shoolagiri.

In 2017, an elephant was injured in an accident. Its tusks were broken after being hit by a lorry on the same highway.

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