A badly injured wild tusker in the Sigur range of the Nilgiris North Forest Division has been put on the road to recovery thanks to the efforts of forest officials.
Speaking to The Hindu here on Saturday the District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris North, K. Soundarapandian, said that a couple of days ago when a team of anti-poaching watchers were on patrol duty in the range they had come across a wild elephant moving about with great difficulty near Vazhaithottam. Due to an injury it was not able to use its left foreleg.
With the information being passed on to the department, arrangements were made to treat the pachyderm with the help of kumkis (working elephants) from the Theppakadu elephant camp of the nearby Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
Accordingly four male and two female kumkis were taken on Friday to the place where the wild tusker was spotted. With the help of the kumkis the injured elephant was on Saturday coaxed into moving to a suitable place inside the jungle where wildlife veterinarians N.S. Manoharan and N. Kalaivanan administered a sedative and attended to the festering wound.
Later Dr. Manoharan said that the animal aged between 20 and 25 years was extremely weak as it has been suffering for quite sometime.
Pointing out that the wound was at least two months old, he opined that while grazing it would have hurt itself. Since pus was pouring out and the pain was agonising the animal's mobility had been severely curtailed.
Consequently, its intake of food and water had come down considerably. In addition to cleaning and treating the wound it had been put on drips to help it gain some energy.
Stating that its vital signs are not a source of concern, he said that it would be allowed to remain in its habitat but its condition will be constantly monitored.
