Wild Elephant Tramples Woman to Death in Hassan District

A wild elephant trampled a 45-year-old woman to death in Tagare village of Bikkodu hobli in Belur taluk on Saturday evening. The victim, Jayamma, had gone to graze her sheep in a plantation area near her village when she encountered the animal. Her death sparked immediate protests from local residents who blamed the Forest Department for negligence. This incident adds to a long-running pattern of human-elephant conflict in Belur, Sakaleshpur, and Alur taluks, where wild elephants frequently roam and cause tension and casualties. Just a few months earlier in August, a 50-year-old man named Dharmaraju died in a suspected elephant attack in Arehalli within Hirehasade village, which also triggered local protests. Meanwhile, a separate incident on the same day in Chamarajanagar district involved a female elephant dying from electrocution after its trunk touched an electric fence around a maize farm near Paalya village. Authorities arrested the farmer who installed the fence under the Wildlife Protection Act and the Electricity Act.

Context

Human-wildlife conflicts often rise when agricultural fields and plantations expand into natural forest habitats, forcing animals to move closer to human settlements. Local farmers frequently use electric fencing to protect their crops from raiding animals, which can lead to fatal accidents for wildlife. At the same time, communities living near forest fringes often protest to demand better safety measures and stronger action from wildlife authorities.