Bengaluru: A python coiled to the car’s engine. A leopard trapped in the bathroom. An elephant caught in a swamp – These three separate incidents that occurred in Karnataka’s Bengaluru-Mysuru region sent the forest department officials and animal activists into a tizzy on January 17. But it culminated in a happy ending: The three guests from the wild were successfully rescued.
Action started around 2:30 am on January 17 in Ramanagaram district when agriculturist Ganganna woke up to incessant barking by dogs near his house in Guddahallli, located adjacent to the Savanadurga forest area in Magadi taluk. On stepping out, he found a dog standing in front of the bathroom and barking. Ganganna, initially, presumed a thief to have taken shelter and peeped inside. However, he was shocked to see a leopard feasting on a dog inside the bathroom.
The leopard, which had strayed from the forest, had come to the village hunting for food. Ganganna bolted the bathroom door from outside and alerted the forest department staff. Following this, a team led by a veterinarian from Bannerghatta Biological Park reached the spot along with other forest officials and tranquilised the leopard. Later, they shifted the leopard to Bannerghatta animal rescue and rehabilitation centre in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile at Belavadi village near Srirangapatna in Mandya district, businessman Kaushik faced a problem with regard to his SUV’s engine. Kaushik, who had returned from Mysuru the previous night and had parked the SUV at his farmhouse, could not rev up the engine. Failing in his attempts, Kaushik opened the vehicle’s bonnet to fix the snag. But he was terrified to find a python coiled to the vehicle’s engine. Kaushik alerted a Mysuru-based snake lover and sought his help. Local Kannada television channels aired the footage of the python-rescue. When the python was pulled out, it measured 6.5 feet.
In Mysuru district’s Hunsur taluk, the forest department officials faced an elephantine problem as a female elephant had got struck in a marshy portion of the lake at Kachuvinahalli. The 20-year-old elephant, along with a herd of six elephants, had strayed out of the forest in search of water when it got caught in the slush. The forest department personnel had to deploy Ganesh, a tamed elephant, to pull the trapped elephant out.
