Skip to main content

Kerala's Rogue Elephant Tranqualised, Shifted To Periyar Tiger Reserve

Kerala's Rogue Elephant Tranqualised, Shifted To Periyar Tiger Reserve

The task force spotted the elephant Arikomban near Suryanelli (File)

Idukki, Kerala:

A rogue elephant, notorious for breaking into ration shops to steal rice and causing damage to human settlements in Chinnakanal and Santhanpara areas of this hill district, was tranquilised on Saturday after months of uncertainty and confusion.

Mission Arikomban, named after the tusker, started at 4 am on Saturday and went on till 6 pm. The elephant was being to the Periyar tiger reserve and will be let loose 20 km deep inside the forest.

State Forest Minister A K Saseendran said the radio collar attached to the elephant will alert officials of its movement and allow them to take necessary precautions in case it ventures into human habitat again.

He, however, did not disclose the exact location where the elephant would be released. The High Court had earlier directed the Kerala Forest Department not to reveal the location.

"Forest officials have made all necessary arrangements (for translocation of the elephant)," the minister told PTI.

Saseendran said the government had proposed various locations before the high court and this particular reserve was selected as its climatic conditions are similar to those of Chinnakkanal.

Saddled in the southern region of the Western Ghats, the Periyar Tiger Reserve is spread across 777 sq km of area and is home to a luxuriant collection of different species of flora and fauna.

Earlier, the task force had a tough day, braving heavy rain and fog, as they tried to tranquilise the elephant and shift it to a truck with the help of four Kumki elephants. The Kumki elephants, trained for trapping and capturing wild tuskers, successfully managed to push the rouge tusker into the truck despite facing great resistance.

The task force spotted the elephant 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 fired at 11.55 am and followed by the first booster at 12.40 pm. Five more boosters were subsequently given.

However, the task force members could not cover the eyes of the wild elephant with a black cloth to keep it calm. They 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, which, after hearing the plea, stopped the department's move.

The court appointed an expert committee to study the issue. The panel suggested that the elephant be translocated to a wild area where there would be no chance of conflict with humans.

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. The High Court then asked the Kerala government to release it in a place of its choice and asked them to keep the location a secret.

The locals of Chinnakanal and Santhanpara had been up in arms against the rogue elephant and had been demanding its translocation from their area. The place, situated 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. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/QXSCkuN https://ift.tt/cVAHqQT
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...

18-Year-Old Killed By Friends Over Mobile Game Password In Bengal: Cops

According to cops, accused "friends" attempted to burn the victim after killing him. (Representational) Kolkata: An argument over sharing the password of an online mobile game allegedly led to the murder of a teenage boy by four of his friends in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said. The body of 18-year-old Papai Das, who had been missing since January 8, was discovered near Nishindra Ghat of the feeder canal in Farakka on Monday, police said. Papai, a class 10 student, was reportedly killed by his four "close" friends after a disagreement over sharing the password for a mobile online game. The accused individuals have been arrested, police added. "These five individuals used to play online games at one of the quarters of the Farakka Barrage. The victim went out on the evening of January 8 and never returned. On January 9, the family lodged a police complaint. "Based on preliminary investigations, we discovered that...

"Jaiswal Has Run Ahead Of Gill": Ex-India Star's Massive T20 WC Verdict

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has suggested that Yashasvi Jaiswal is slightly ahead of Shubman Gill in the pecking order as captain Rohit Sharma's partner at the top in T20Is. Since making his debut last year, Jaiswal has been in stunning form in the shortest format of the game. Gill's form, on the other hand, has dipped since the ODI World Cup last year in India. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, Chopra feels Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit during the tournament. "It's clear that Yashasvi Jaiswal has run ahead of Shubman Gill. Yashasvi is ahead in the two-horse race, Gill is lagging slightly behind. Gill was played in the first match, dropped in the second, and wasn't played in the third as well," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. Jaiswal helped India beat Afghanistan in the second T20I earlier this week, scoring a quickfire fifty. Considering his recent form across formats, Chopra emphasised that Jaiswal has ...