Rhino runs amok at Vizag zoo

An elephant goes wild at Kuppam, tramples two farmers to deathA Visakhapatnam/Tirupati: While Telugus celebrated Ugadi in the state, two animals went wild in two different places, causing deaths and injuries. In the first incident, a rhino that was recently brought into captivity ran amok at Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Vizag, terrorizing the visitors and the staff members. In the second incident, a wild tusker attacked farmers at different places near Kuppam in Chittoor district resulting in the death of two. The 12-year-old male rhino named Nakul was brought to the Vizag zoo on Wednesday by road after a four-day tedious travel. Crammed into a small enclosure, the beast suffered an injury during the journey. Two doctors of the zoo also accompanied the animal. On Thursday morning, Nakul went aggressive, perhaps irritated by the injury, and shredded the enclosure's walls. Then it ran helter skelter before settling down in a pool of muddy water giving jitters to the zoo staff. The zoo doctors immediately shot tranquilizers to rein in the animal. "It took nearly 30 minutes for us to bring the animal under control,'' the staff said with a sigh of relief. Later it was put into night house. The zoo was closed immediately from the afternoon and all visitors were asked to leave the premises. Those who had fanned out in the zoo were taken to the main gates by zoo vehicles. Being a holiday on the occasion of Ugadi, the zoo was packed with people not only from the city but from the neighbouring districts. ``We ran out of the zoo after hearing the new rhino was running all over injuring people,'' said two visitors from Narsipatnam. The zoo staff said the rhino was caught by the Kanpur forest authorities. Probably it was under stress due to the long travel and the injury it suffered during the journey, said zoo doctors. They said it would take some time for the animal to adjust to the humid and hot weather of Visakhapatnam.A "We called a doctor from Hyderabad to treat the animal and also to tame the animal so as to put for pubic view,'' said a senior veterinary doctor P Srinivas. In the Kuppam incident, a wild tusker deviated from a herd of elephants in Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu-Karnataka forest areas near Kuppam two days ago and was moving across vegetable farms in Mushtipalle village of Karnataka. On Thursday morning, it strayed into crop fields in Kothakota village, which is adjacent to a forest area in V Kota Mandal where the rogue pachyderm killed farmer Ramappa by pinning him down with front leg, and three hours later, it attacked another farmer Murugesh by flunging him into air with its trunk at Chintakuppam village. Later, villagers said, the elephant went into the forest and was seen taking rest at a natural water body. Meanwhile, the forest staff from V.Kota and Palamaneru are monitoring the movements of the wild elephant. They urged the higher officials of forest department in Chittoor (West) to send trackers to drive the tusker deep into the jungle. This is third attack since January. Earlier, one farmer was killed by a wild elephant.