A woman tourist from Chennai died after being trampled by an elephant during a fight between two captive elephants at the Dubare elephant camp in Karnataka’s Kodagu district on Sunday, May 18.
The deceased was identified as Tulasi, a 33-year-old tourist from Chennai. She had visited the Dubare elephant camp in Kushalnagar taluk and was watching elephants being bathed when the incident occurred.
According to officials, the accident took place during the routine elephant bathing session when an elephant named Kanchan attacked another elephant, Marthanda. Mahouts and staff reportedly attempted to control the animals, but efforts to contain the fight failed.
During the altercation, one of the elephants lost balance and fell onto the tourist. As the elephant repeatedly tried to get back up, Marthanda allegedly trampled her further, causing fatal injuries.
Karnataka Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre expressed grief over the incident and issued immediate directions to forest officials to tighten tourist safety measures at wildlife and elephant camps across the state.
In an official note issued on May 18, Khandre described the incident as “very sad” and said Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) would now be formulated specifically for the safety of tourists visiting elephant camps. He said the department had already advised temporary suspension of eco-tourism trail operations until previously framed SOPs for trekking and wildlife tourism were fully implemented.
The minister directed officials to ensure that tourists maintain a minimum distance of 100 feet from elephants during bathing sessions and barred visitors from approaching elephants for selfies, photographs or bathing activities. He also instructed authorities to prohibit tourists from touching elephant trunks or feeding the animals items such as bananas, jaggery and sugarcane.
Khandre said the new restrictions would come into effect immediately from Monday. He added that although captive elephants are trained animals, their behaviour can still become unpredictable, particularly during stressful situations or fights between animals.
The minister further instructed forest officials to enforce stricter crowd control and safety monitoring around wildlife camps and tourist interaction zones to prevent similar incidents in the future.
This article was written by a student interning with TNM.