The killers who came in from the forest: Two wild elephants invade Indian city and gore security guard to death in three-hour rampage

Two elephants captured and set to be returned to wild

At least one man was killed amid widespread panic when two wild elephants went on a three-hour rampage across a city in southern Indian.

The raging elephants left a trail of destruction across a suburb of the city of Mysore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, after they wandered in from a nearby forest.



One man, a 55-year-old security guard from the Bamboo Bazaar district, was trampled to death after he came out of his house to see what was going on.



Rampage: A wild elephant gores a security guard in Mysore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka

Footage shown on New Delhi Television news shows the body of the man at the feet of one of the animals being repeatedly gored, butted and trampled into a doorway.



The footage also shows an elephant angrily butting a cow.

An eyewitness said: 'The two elephants entered our city and started stomping over everything that came in their way.



'One of them even entered a market place and crushed a man to death within minutes.'



Karnataka state higher education minister S.A. Ramdas told the AFP news agency the elephants entered the city from a nearby forest early in the morning.



One elephant barged into a women's college compound and stalked the grounds, while the other wreaked havoc in a residential area.

Schools and colleges were closed for the day, said Mr Ramdas, and extra police were deployed as forest rangers while staff from Mysore zoo tried desperately to contain the animals.



One of the elephants also attacked a cow after it wandered into the city from a nearby forest

The cow is thrown up into the air as it is butted by the elephant. Officials ordered residents to stay indoors and urged them not to throw stones at the elephants for fear of provoking them further

Officials ordered residents to stay indoors and urged them not to throw stones at the raging elephants for fear of provoking them further.

The two young elephants came with two others from a forest about 22 miles from Mysore. The other pair remain at large on the outskirts of the city, which is 87 miles from Bangalore.



Every year hundreds of people across India die when wild animals wander into cities as their natural habitats become ever smaller and they have to range farther and farther for food.



Havoc: An elephant, with a tranquilliser dart in its side, bashes into a car as it lumbers along a street, sending people fleeing in terror

Trail of destruction: The same elephant attacks a pair of motorcycles resting against a wall

These Mysore residents have clambered up steps to keep out of the way of this elephant

Watched by hundreds of onlookers, one of the elephants that went on the three-hour rampage is led away by a heavy rope

India's national parks suffer massive encroachment from people who live and forage for food in the forests or graze their cattle inside.



'Unregulated expansion of farm lands and increasing movement of people and transport vehicles through the elephant corridor are making the wild jumbos enter into villages and towns in search of food and shelter,' one official told AFP.



After a three-hour hunt, the two elephants who went into the city were eventually brought down with tranquilliser darts and captured. They are set to be released back into the wild.

Crazed: The elephant singles out a jeep vehicle for an attack in Mysore, southern India

Nonchalant: Another elephant strolls along a road in the city, but this time no one is harmed

'Human-elephant conflict': A problem on the rise

Though they rarely stray into urban areas, elephant attacks are not uncommon in Karnataka.

The state - large parts of which are heavily forested, and even unexplored - supports 25 per cent of India's total elephant population.

They are even honoured as the state animal and, thanks to conservation efforts, their numbers have risen quickly in recent years.

As the creatures' habitat has been gradually destroyed, tragic encounters between humans and mainly younger elephants have increased

But as the massive creatures' habitat has been gradually destroyed tragic encounters between humans and mainly younger elephants have increased.

In Karnatka, elephants are mainly concentrated in a number of national parks, several of which are clustered just south of the city of Mysore.

But India's national parks suffer massive encroachment from people who live and forage for food in the forests or graze their cattle inside.

Because forest cover is shrinking, elephants have no other option but to raid villages and farms in search of food.



As well as killing and injuring people, elephants destroy homes and cause massive damage to crops in the areas they stray into.

In 2005 the Journal of Nature published an article theorising that today’s elephant populations suffer from 'species specific stress' originating from trauma.

Today these large animals live in what some conservationists say are little more than animal concentration camps, and there is no quick solution to what has been dubbed the 'human-elephant conflict'.