A wild tusker that had strayed into human habitation in Madukkarai here last week was tranquillised and trapped on Sunday by personnel involved in ‘Operation Madukkarai Maharaj’ that began on June 13. The operation succeeded with the help of three kumki elephants that were pressed into service by the Forest Department. As many as 86 forest personnel, who were aided by the district administration, defence personnel and other departments, were also involved in the operation.
The final operation that started at about 11 p.m. on Saturday went on for nearly nine-and-a-half-hours, and the healthy, sub-adult elephant aged between 18 to 20 years and weighing 3.5-4 tonnes, was tranquilised and trapped. District Forest Officer in-charge A. Periyasamy, who headed the operation, said a combination of Ketamine and Ketamine Xylazine was shot at the tusker on a plain terrain at the Madukkarai Military Camp. Forest veterinarian N.S. Manoharan darted the animal from a distance of about 70 meters using a tranquilizer gun.
The elephant then went out of control for about 15 minutes, crossed the Palakkad Road, and reached the reserve forest area where the kumki elephants were ready to corner it. With the help of two kumkis, elephant handlers and trackers tied the Maharaj’s legs with ropes.
The bushes near the wild elephant were cleared and a path was prepared using an earthmover to facilitate the elephant’s movement to the truck. A portion of the compound wall of an Electricity Board (Tangedco) office was brought down for the operation.
A crowd-puller
Thousands had gathered early on Sunday morning to watch the final phase of the operation and the tusker slightly moved away from the path into the nearby bushes close to which people were standing. It was pulled back by kumki elephants Kaleem and Sujay and was pushed into the truck.
