Bus knocks elephant dead in Sathyamangalam

Yet another Jumbo road kill. It is unfortunate that these incidents only seem to be increasing in frequency...
Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chann...phant-dead-532

Bus knocks elephant dead

A female elephant was killed on the spot in Thalavadi forest range of Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary after it was hit by a KSRTC bus on the National Highway (NH) – 209 on Friday evening. Forest department officials said the incident took place when a herd of elephants was crossing the highway. Other animals in the herd surrounded the carcass and did not allow the forest officials to go anywhere near it for over two hours.

The tragedy took place around 5.30 pm just 1 km away from the Karnataka border. The Thalavadi forest range is in Tamil Nadu and the nearest Karnataka point is Karapallya village in Chamarajanagar. Mr N. Satish, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DFO), Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary, told Deccan Chronicle that the elephant was around 25 years old. He said this was the first incident of an elephant being knocked down by a vehicle in the last 10 years.

The KSRTC bus was coming to Mysore from Coimbatore. The elephant sustained grievous head injuries and succumbed before veterinarians reached the spot. The left portion of the bus was damaged in the accident. There were around 40 passengers in the bus and did not sustain any injuries, the official said. Mr Satish said that other elephants in the herd had crossed the road safely, while the young female was caught unawares by the bus. The post-mortem on the elephant would be conducted on Saturday. The DFO said that animals getting hit by vehicles on NH-209 is nothing new, but elephants falling victim is very rare. Few months ago, a spotted deer was killed on this road.