'It was provoked': Forest official on viral video of lion chasing Karnataka zoo visitors

News Network
October 14, 2019

Bellari, Oct 14: A video clip doing the rounds on social media of a lion chasing visitors in a zoo safari in Karnataka's Ballari district was taken 45 days ago, an official said on Sunday.

"It's a non-event, which occurred 45 days ago in late August during our zoo safari. Nothing untoward happened, as chase by lions and tigers in their territory is common," Ballari zoo Executive Director Sonal Varshi said.

The one-minute video of the six-year-old lion, Keshri, chasing a speeding vehicle carrying a bunch of excited visitors went viral on social media, including YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook, on Saturday after it was uploaded online anonymously.

The video was also aired by news channels. It is similar to another video from Kerala which was shared widely in July showing a tiger chasing two persons on a motorcycle.

The sprawling zoo, named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is located in the mining rich town of Ballari in the northern part of the state.

"The lion got worked up when the driver took the jeep closer to it and raised the throttle, which provoked it to charge and chase it at top speed," recalled Varshi, a 2011 batch Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer.

As a safety measure for the visitors in the big cats' territory, vehicles on safari trips are grilled and meshed to prevent any attack on them by lions or tigers.

Spread across 350 acres, the safari park houses eight big cats, including four tigers and four lions. There aren't any cubs yet, as the two males and two females each have not been allowed to mate till now.

"Keshri was a new entrant in the zoo and was released in the protected area to settle down. It has accustomed to vehicles and visitors now," Varshi said.

The lions were relocated to Ballari from Bannerghatta zoo in Bengaluru while the tigers were brought from Mysuru zoo, about 150 km from here. Though the zoo is yet to be formally inaugurated, the safari was opened for visitors in July.

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News Network
June 14,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 14: Karnataka's Health Department has shut down four city clinics for not reporting Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) cases, which are COVID symptoms, an official said on Sunday.

"We have shut four Bengaluru clinics for not reporting ILI and SARI cases," a health official told IANS.

The clinics are Namma Clinic at Sahakaranagar, Panchamukhi Specialty Clinic at Peenya 2nd Stage, Mathru Chaya Clinic at Sudhama Nagar in Bommanahalli and Nayak Hospital in Gayathri Nagar.

"We gave notice to 17 clinics for not reporting ILI and SARI medical conditions in patients. Out of the 17, 13 reverted that they did not do and will start reporting," said the official.

However, the four named clinics did not revert leading to their shutdown.

According to the official, the clinics failed to adhere to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1987, Disaster Management Act, 2005 and others.

All medical facilities and hospitals should report all patients with ILI and SARI symptoms as many COVID positive cases have them as underlying conditions.

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News Network
July 22,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 22: On Wednesday morning starlet and Bigg Boss 3 contestant Jayashree Ramaiah sent social media into a tizzy with an update that read, “I quit. Goodbye to this f*****g world and depression.” Friends and acquaintances immediately began reaching out to the actor asking her to return their concerned calls and desist from taking any extreme steps.

“Jayashree has been battling depression for a while now. She had family issues and was also concerned about the lack of work,” shares actor Ashvithi Shetty. The Ramachari twins were in touch with Jayashree since they met at a celebrity cricket match four years ago. “She has shared several times about how low she’s been and I would try to cheer her up. But the problem was that she’d keep changing her phone number so often that it became difficult to keep track of how she was doing,” states Ashvithi.

Around four months ago, Jayashree moved into her own home and mentioned to her that she was happy with this new development in her life. “But she went retreated again and a few days ago, I messaged her on social media and she said she was doing fine. So I was shocked to see this update on Wednesday morning,” avers the actor. Repeated calls finally elicited a message from Jayashree that she was getting admitted to the hospital. “But I also got contradictory information that she had been discharged and had been taken to the hospital again but she was refusing to go inside. I am awaiting more clarity on the issue,” sums up Ashvithi.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 28: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to remove the blocking of roads including state highway along the border of Karnataka in view of lock down to contain the spread of COVID-19.

In a letter sent to the Prime Minister on Friday evening, the Chief Minister said certain actions by the Karnataka Police have resulted in the blocking the Thalassery-Coorg State Highway-30. This road connects Kerala with Coorg in Karnataka via Veerajapettah. This route is a lifeline for flow of essential commodities to Kerala."

"If this is blocked, vehicles carrying essential commodities will have to travel a much longer route to reach our state. Given the situation of national lock down, this will add much more hardship to people," it said.

"You will naturally agree with me that no action impeding the movement of essential commodities should be initiated at this moment of crisis," he hoped.

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