Mandya: Panic gripped residents of Kabbare village in Maddur taluk after a lone tusker strayed into the village and began moving through agricultural fields and around the village lake on Wednesday.The unexpected presence of wild elephant in a human habitation left villagers anxious, with many fearing damage to crops and the possibility of human-elephant conflict. The tusker was seen roaming across farmlands before entering the village lake, attracting large crowd of curious onlookers. As people gathered to watch the animal, the elephant reportedly became agitated and started moving erratically in different directions, raising concerns over the safety of both villagers and the animal.Locals urged people to stay away from the tusker and appealed to the forest department to take immediate steps to prevent any untoward incident. Forest officials and field staff rushed to the village to monitor the situation. Officials initiated measures to regulate the crowd, keep locals safe and assess the tusker’s movements before launching an operation to drive it back into the nearby forest.Villagers also sought long-term measures to prevent wild elephants from straying into human settlements, particularly in villages located close to forested areas.
