A wild tusker which was repeatedly raiding agricultural fields in Ammathi and surrounding areas in Kodagu was trapped in an operation conducted by the Forest Department on Saturday.
The tusker, aged about 32 years, was sighted in the Ammathi-Hoskote region a few days and there were complaints of the elephant going berserk which created panic among the local people.
The Forest Department launched an operation with six camp elephants and 60 staff who zeroed in on the wild tusker and managed to corner it. Camp elephant Abhimanyu was accompanied by elephants Arjuna, Gopalkrishna, Ganesha, Gajendra and Bhima who closed in enabling the veterinarians to fire a tranquilizer.
It was then tethered with ropes and hoisted from a crane onto a truck and shifted to Bandipur. A senior official involved in the operation said the elephant was radio collared to monitor its movements and was released in the wild.
