The Forest Department has sanctioned a new kumki elephant for Coimbatore district.
Sujoy, a 32-year-old male elephant currently at the Mudhumalai Tiger Reserve, will be sent to the kumki elephant camp at Chadivayal at the foothills of Siruvani, about 23 km from Coimbatore, by next week.
The State had only two elephant camps at Anamalai and Mudumalai Tiger Reserves. Considering the reaction time taken and the resultant delay in responding to human-elephant conflict situations, the third kumki elephant camp was established at Chadivayal in July 2014 at a cost of Rs 58 lakh.
The objective behind the camp was to ensure instant deployment of kumkis in the event of any conflict in the 315 km long forest boundary in the district of which nearly 250 km was found to be conflict prone. The camp came up on a 20 acre site.
District Forest Officer M. Senthil Kumar told The Hindu here on Monday that Sujoy was being sent to Coimbatore to replace Nanjan, a 56-year-old kumki, that died in February this year after a spell of prolonged illness.
The sanction of new kumki had come at a crucial time since the elephant migration takes place during these months. As a result, there would be increased movement of elephants and incidents of elephant straying into human habitations. So far, three fatalities due to elephant attacks had been reported in Coimbatore district during the current financial year.
The Forest Department on Monday deployed Paari near the Marudhamalai Hills after a herd of 13 elephants had strayed into the area for the past four days. The herd had already damaged a few houses, although none had been injured so far. It would patrol the IOB Colony and several other areas.
The department had also deployed Anti-Poaching Watchers in the area. A unit of 15 watchers had set up camp in the locality to monitor elephant movement.
Surveillance had also been stepped up along the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border in areas such as Dhanikandi settlement near Iruttupallam, which forms part of the elephant corridor.
