Overview
- A viral video posted Tuesday shows a wild elephant rummaging through large piles of plastic bags, food containers and bottles near the Male Mahadeshwara Swamy Temple in MM Hills.
- MM Hills sits between the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and the Biligirirangana Swamy Temple Tiger Reserve, making the site an important corridor for elephant and tiger movement.
- Reports say thousands of devotees visited over the weekend and left heavy garbage that collected near roads, drains and forest edges, drawing sharp social media criticism.
- Karnataka forest officials have opened an inquiry and said they will take action against those responsible while field teams began clean-up measures that some sources said included burial and burning of waste.
- Conservationists warn that food-contaminated plastic attracts herbivores, risks ingestion and illness, and could change animal behavior or hamper safe movement through the corridor unless waste management is strengthened around pilgrim events.