A herd of elephants today strayed into the Berhampur University campus [in India], some 180km from the state capital, injuring one person and causing panic among students, employees and their families.
The herd comprising 10 elephants kept people on the campus terrified till the evening, said Berhampur divisional forest officer A.K. Jena, while speaking to The Telegraph from the spot.
Jena said the elephant herd that was seen around Sundar hills near Chhatrapur some 20km from Berhampur last evening was sighted in the jungle behind the university high school in the campus at around 4am today.
…
Preparations for the celebration of the 43rd Foundation Day of the university scheduled for tomorrow have been hampered due to the presence of the animals, sources said.
District forest officer Jena conceded that a large crowd gathered to see the elephants was creating logistical problem for the forest officers.
“We will start the drive in the evening and take efforts to chase them away towards the Berbera forests,” he added.
This herd was a part of huge herd comprising more than 20 elephants that had strayed from Chandka sanctuary located on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar in 2007 and have been moving across Ganjam since then.
January 1st, 2009 at 9:27PM
An Elephant Runs Through It
January 1st, 2009 at 9:30PM
Funny!
January 1st, 2009 at 10:57PM
That sounds like a better reason to panic that what happened to us a couple of summers ago when a wandering black bear shut down campus!
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:10AM
Hmm. Sounds suspiciously like what happened to Elizabeth Taylor in the movie "Elephant Walk."
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:46AM
ttbdan: Thanks for getting me to this page:
http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=161050
I’d never heard of the movie! What a story, on-screen and off.
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:24PM
The picture quality isn’t great, but take a look at the elephant stamped here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9-dggE1KM
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:52PM
Hilarious! Thanks, ttbdan.