BY G. MANJUSAINATH, BANGALORE: The apparent obsession of the Indian Forest Service (IFS) officials to be posted in the urban locations of Bangalore, Mysore and other major cities of the State has meant, there are not many willing to be in the forests to keep a check on the rising deaths of wild animals. If official apathy is being blamed for the deaths of pachyderms in Karnataka, then there are strong reasons for it. Sources in the CID/Forest cell claim that the deaths of elephants since 2004 to till date is much higher than the total pachyderms killed by forest brigand Veerappan. According to sources in the forest department, there are 179Indian Forest Service (IFS) officials, which include the IFS officers from other states on deputation in Karnataka. Of them, 67 officers are posted in Bangalore alone, ten are in Mysore and eight in Mangalore. Besides, there are some IFS officers serving as registrars in University of Mysore, Kuvempu University, Karnatak University and Tumkur University. The status of the IFS officers in Karnataka is that they are working on e-governance in Bangalore, serving as Executive Directors in Mysore Minerals Limited and Karnataka State Beverage Corporation Limited.