Idukki (Kerala), Apr 29 (PTI) After months of uncertainty and confusion, Arikomban, a rogue elephant notorious for breaking into the ration shops to steal rice and also causing damage to the human settlements in Chinnakanal and Santhanpara areas in this hill district, was finally tranquilised on Saturday.
The Mission Arikomban, which started at 4 AM today, went on till 6 PM.
The elephant is being taken in a truck to an undisclosed location from the forest area near Suryanelli where it was spotted.
The High Court had earlier directed the Kerala Forest Department not to reveal the location of the release of the tusker.
The task force had a complicated day tranquilising the elephant and shifting it to the truck with the help of four Kumki elephants. They also had to brave heavy rain and fog when they were trying to shift the tranquilised elephant into the truck. However, the experienced Kumki elephants successfully managed to push the tusker into the truck.
Kumkis are captive elephants trained for use in trapping and capturing wild elephants.
The task force spotted Arikomban near Suryanelli in the morning, and a tranquilising team led by Dr Arun Zacharia surrounded the area.
Fortunately for the task force team, the elephant did not go deeper inside the forest, and the first tranquiliser shot was done at 11.55 AM. The first booster dose was shot at 12.40 PM and another five boosters were given subsequently.
The elephant, however, put up great resistance when the kumki elephants tried to push him into the vehicle.
The task force members also could not cover its eyes with a black cloth, a procedure usually done during animal rescue, to keep it calm.
The officials used the arm of an earthmover to reach the top of the animal in the truck to fix a GPS-enabled radio collar, which was insisted on by the Kerala High Court.
Mission Arikomban had gone through several controversies, with animal rights activists opposing the move of the forest department to capture and tame it to become a Kumki elephant at Kodanad Elephant centre in Ernakulam district.
They petitioned the High Court, and the court, after hearing the plea, stopped the department’s move.
The High Court appointed an expert committee to study the issue, and the committee suggested the translocation of the elephant to a safer wild area where conflict with humans would not be there.
The committee had suggested shifting the elephant to the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve. Soon, protests erupted in the Parambikulam area, with residents fiercely opposing the move. Then the High Court asked the government to release it in a place of its choice and asked them to keep the location a secret.
The local people of Chinnakanal and Santhanpara had been up in arms against the rogue elephant and had been demanding its translocation from their area. The place, which is trapped between the Anayirangal Dam on one side and several tribal settlements on the other, has many more elephants that were denied their corridors of passage.
Though one elephant is now being removed from the locality, the experts said that the issue is far from over. PTI KPK RRT TGB TGB KH
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