Elephants gobble up, ravage paddy crop on Belur farm

Belur: A herd of wild elephants gobbled up about 60 quintals of paddy on a farm in Devalapur village of Kalleri grama in the taluk.

Eight farmers from Devalapur had harvested the paddy they had grown on Thursday, threshed it in a paddy machine and stored it in bags.

As usual, they had come to load the harvested paddy on a tractor on Friday morning, when the rude shock hit them.

A herd of 12 wild elephants had not only eaten the crop but ruined most of it by leaving it scattered.

Manu, a villager, said: “About 60 quintals of paddy belonging to our village folk Hoovegowda, Halegowda, Hirigowda, Sharat, Ramesh and me have been destroyed. Already, the threat of wild elephants is increasing day by day in Malnad region.  The crops we have worked hard for are now being destroyed. We are fed up with these menaces and are in a situation where we are doing nothing. Farmers, who earn about Rs 3 lakh per season, have seen their crop eaten and damaged. How can we survive?”

“We have given complete information about this problem to the Forest Department, but they are just trying to make us cry even more. They should give us compensation immediately for lost crop and ensure that the elephants here be driven away,” he said.