Forest staffer sacked for firing at tusker in Bandipur, video goes viral

Bengaluru:, 12 March 2020 [Fik/News Sources]: One staffer of Karnataka Forest Department was sacked while another is being investigated after a video surfaced showing a forest staffer firing at a tusker.

Days after a video of an elephant being shot in Bandipur National Park went viral on social media, officials said that they have removed a staffer and initiated action against an employee of the Karnataka Forest Department in the matter.

Speaking with this regard Bandipur field director T Balchandra said, “We have removed Rahim, temporary staffer, and initiated action against Umesh, a permanent employee of the Karnataka Forest Department, after an internal enquiry,”

While Rahim is said to have shot the charging elephant, Umesh reportedly made the video and shared it on social media.

The video showed the tusker trying to cross the rail barricade while the a watcher shoots in the direction of the elephant and the bullet hits the rail barricade. The tusker just misses the shot by a whisker, others in the jeep are also heard making shrieking calls to scare away the elephant.

Meanwhile the petrified tusker, then slips through the elephant-proof trench, created after the rail barricade, and runs away from the forest boundary into the neighbouring fields.