Tusker involved in trampling two men to death captured in Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru
Chikkamagaluru (PTI): After a nearly 17-hour operation, the Karnataka Forest Department managed to safely immobilise and capture a 40-year-old tusker that trampled two people to death in this district, officials said on Monday.
Umesh (43) and Harish (42) in Kerekatte range of the Kudremukh wildlife division here were killed on October 31, they said.
Both of them lived on the periphery of Kudremukh National Park and had gone to the forest to collect leaves for cowshed when the elephant attacked them, resulting in their deaths, officials said.
According to the forest department, on Sunday morning, five trained elephants and around 150 officials involved in the operation captured the tusker which was spotted near the Bhagavathi Nature Camp in this district, following which veterinarians fired a tranquiliser dart.
"Acting on authorisation from the Chief Wildlife Warden, the Karnataka Forest Department concluded a 17-hour operation to safely immobilise and capture the "Mallandur" (wild) tusker near Bhagavathi Nature Camp in Kudremukh National Park," a senior department official said.
No personnel or public were injured in the operation, he said.
"The tranquilised tusker is stated to be stable and is currently at Dodda Harave elephant camp, where it is kept under observation," he said.
Explaining the operation, the officer said it began at first light under a minimal-chase, welfare-first protocol. Trained ground trackers, veterinarians, and kumki elephants worked in coordinated sectors while thermal-imaging drones provided real-time situational awareness and helped maintain public safety.
"At 4.45 pm, the veterinary team successfully darted the tusker. The animal was stabilised on site, continuously monitored, and moved along a pre-vetted, terrain-safe egress using reinforced extraction equipment," he added.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
