Elephant hit by govt bus, critical

In yet another jumbo accident in Tamil Nadu, a speeding government bus hit a “makhana” elephant, leaving the 10-year-old jumbo injured at Shooalgiri on Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway.

The incident happened around 5 am on Monday. The makhana (a male elephant without a tusk) is now battling for life with severe injuries to its legs. A team of experts from Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary has been rushed to Krishnagiri. “Experts from Mudumalai are of the opinion that the jumbo may not have sustained bone fracture. If the x-ray reports show no damages in the bone, the animal will be treated and released into the wild, ” Conservator of forest A.K.Ulaganathan told reporters.

This is the third such incident in the last two years where wild elephants have been killed or injured while crossing the 55-km stretch of the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway from Krishnagiri to Hosur.

“I noticed two jumbos crossing the road. I tried to avoid hitting the makhna elephant, but the bus came to a halt only after hitting the elephant,” said a visibly shocked, 40-year-old Anbumani, the driver of the government bus, which rammed the elephant.

A crane was brought in to shift the jumbo from the highways to a truck and taken to the Gopachandram forest nursery near Hosur.

Government veterinarians A.Prakash, V.Jayakodi, K.Vadivalagan and S.Bharathidasan examined the elephant writhing in pain.

The experts initially suspected that the elephant had suffered a fracture in its right front leg. “The injured makhna was given sedation to reduce its pain,” government veterinarian A.Prakash told reporters.

“Initially, we planned to shift the injured animal to Vandalur, but it was later changed to Mudumalai where the facility is available to tend the elephant back to health,” said Dr. Prakash. However, a team of experts from Mudumalai took an x-ray of the injured leg of the makhna and they hope that the elephant had not sustained a bone fracture. Jumbo hits: 3 February 2015: 3-year-old elephant calf died on spot after being hit by a speeding car while crossing the national highway. 20 January 2016: 20-year-old male elephant lost its tusk after the animal was hit by a government bus at Bynapalli, near Krishnagiri collector’s office, on Chennai-Bengaluru national highway 4 July 2016: Ten-year-old Makhna elephant sustained bone fracture in its right front leg after being hit by a government bus at Shoolagiri, on Chennai-Bengaluru national highway.