A 17-year-old college student returning home was fatally trampled by a wild elephant in southern India, setting off large-scale protests as locals demanded action to address the growing human-wildlife clashes that have claimed hundreds of lives in recent years.
Pooja, a first-year pre-university student at St. Michael’s Composite PU College in Madikeri, had just exited a bus near her home in Bettathuru village in Karnataka’s Kodagu district when the elephant suddenly attacked from behind at around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 28, 2026.
The attack happened in an instant. Hearing her daughter’s cries, Pooja’s mother, Devaki, ran toward her, but the incident was over within moments. Her father, Changappa (also reported as Girish in some accounts), had briefly gone to pick up his motorcycle. Upon returning, he found Pooja lying in a pool of blood, severely injured by the elephant’s charge.
Pooja was transported to the Government Hospital in Madikeri, but doctors were unable to save her. A postmortem examination was completed later at the same hospital. The sudden death of the young student devastated the close-knit community and fueled anger over what residents believe is government inaction in the face of rising wildlife attacks.
The tragedy immediately galvanized villagers into action. On Sunday, residents, along with farmer groups and Bharatiya Janata Party workers, assembled to block National Highway 275 for more than two hours. The demonstration halted traffic for kilometers along the Mysuru-Bantwal route as protesters demanded swift government measures to prevent further loss of life.
Madikeri Deputy Conservator of Forests Abhishek visited Pooja’s family at the hospital, assuring them that authorities would work to capture the elephant responsible. “The Rapid Response Team has rushed to the spot and efforts are underway to drive the elephant back into the forest,” he stated. The Karnataka government later announced compensation of Rs 20 lakh, roughly $22,000, for the grieving family.
The incident highlights a longstanding and deadly challenge in Karnataka. Forest department records show that wild animals have killed 254 people across the state in the past five years, including 42 deaths in 2024–25 alone. Nearly 70 percent of these fatalities stem from encounters with elephants, tigers, and leopards—species whose habitats increasingly overlap with growing villages, farms, and infrastructure projects.
Kodagu district lies at the forested junction of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, where elephant migration routes frequently cross with human settlements. Locals reported that earlier in February, a young man returning from work at a resort was seriously injured in a similar elephant attack along the same road, narrowly escaping death. This overlap of wildlife and human activity has led to more dangerous interactions, particularly affecting students, farmers, and laborers.
Human-wildlife conflict extends well beyond Karnataka. In early January, a solitary male elephant caused panic in Jharkhand, killing at least 22 people over about ten days in the forested West Singhbhum district before evading authorities. The attacks, beginning January 1 in the Chaibasa and Kolhan regions of the Saranda forest—one of Asia’s largest sal forests—largely targeted villagers guarding crops along forest edges at night.
Official figures show the gravity of the issue. Jharkhand has recorded roughly 1,270 human fatalities due to elephant attacks in the past 18 years, while nearly 150 elephants have also died in conflict-related events—making it one of India’s worst-affected states in human-elephant confrontations.
The wildlife crisis coincides with troubling trends in India’s elephant population. In October 2025, a pioneering DNA-based census by the Wildlife Institute of India estimated the country’s wild elephant population at 22,446—lower than the 27,312 reported in 2017. However, researchers clarify that the new method “is not directly comparable to past figures” and should serve as a fresh baseline for future tracking.
Residents of Bettathuru and nearby villages have repeatedly alerted officials to increasing elephant movement near homes, but locals say authorities respond only after deaths occur instead of taking preventive steps. Community leaders are calling for expanded patrolling, physical barriers, deployment of elephant tracking technology, better early warning systems, and improved coordination among government departments.
Pooja’s death has been especially distressing for the community. Neighbors described her as a kind, hardworking student who hoped to continue her education. She had recently finished her annual exams on February 19 and had been staying with her mother, who works as a cook at a local ashram school. Her death is yet another young life lost amid the ongoing struggle between conservation and human safety.
Forest Department officials said they are monitoring elephant activity in the region and have begun efforts to move the animals back into forest areas. They also assured that necessary assistance would be provided to the family according to government regulations.
As Bettathuru grieves, the tragedy has renewed urgent appeals for a balanced plan that safeguards both India’s threatened wildlife and the vulnerable communities living near their habitats. Residents hope that concrete and sustained action will finally be taken to prevent similar incidents, sparing other families from the heartbreak now felt by Pooja’s loved ones.
