Wandering elephants go off the radar in Mandya district

Mandya: Five elephants, which entered human habitation and are criss-crossing the area between Mysuru and Mandya districts, are nowhere to be seen even though officers of both districts have been closely monitoring their wanderings.
Javed Mumtaz, deputy conservator of forest, Mandya district, said the elephants have reached the Varakodu Hill area near the T Narasipura highway."On Wednesday, the elephants moved out of a farm near Mahadevapura of Srirangapatna taluk. After nightfall, we lost track of them due to darkness. On Thursday morning, we couldn't spot them. However, we tracked their movement by their footprints near Varakadu Hill and we think they're still there," he said.
According to Mumtaz, the elephants, which reportedly came from the Malavalli forest, are returning to their natural habitat. "They're returning to the woods by the same route they came. We couldn't spot them as they may be hiding in the semi-forest area of Varakadu Hill region. We neither received distress calls nor information from people about elephants in their area," he said.
Javid said if the elephants are returning towards Malavalli forest, people should not disturb them, and, in all likelihood, they'd reach their destination within two days. The Malavalli forest is about 25km from the place where they're roaming, he added. The elephants have not caused any crop or property loss, he said, adding that he would assess the situation again.