It took over 15 hours for over 120 Forest personnel to capture ‘chullikkomban,’ a wild elephant reportedly involved in at least three of the four elephant attack deaths in the Aralam area over the past three years, including the latest one on April 5.
The Forest and Wildlife Department had been preparing for the past one month to tranquillize and translocate the rogue elephant. The decision to capture it was taken following local protests in the aftermath of the recent elephant attacks in the area.
“It was a very difficult job. The Forest personnel from Kannur and Wayanad districts had a tough time yesterday till the operation ended successfully by night,” said Divisional Forest Officer Sunil Pameedi. Though ‘chullikkomban’ was a medium-sized elephant, the three huge kumki elephants, trained for taming wild elephants, struggled to handle it as it resisted the efforts to herd it to a vehicle, he said.
The operation began at 5 a.m. on Wednesday. At around 9.30 a.m., the Forest personnel spotted the elephant. But the problem was that it was found together in a herd of three elephants. Though wildlife veterinarian Arun Zacharia fired the tranquilizer dart, the darted elephant could not be isolated for capture. Moreover, the elephant was not being sedated initially.
“You cannot blindly sedate an animal and in this particular case, two bulls were moving with the darted animal,” said Mr. Zakharia. Low level of sedation had to be maintained in this case as the sedated elephant had to be maneuvered and moved to the kraal, he said.
Forest officials present said the real mess started after ‘chullikkomban’ was finally herded and tethered to a tree around 4.30 p.m. A heavy rain and hailstorm that started around that time created havoc in the forest area with the Forest personnel running for cover to escape from falling trees and branches. Even the tree to which the captured elephant was tethered broke into half, they said. The operation finally ended around 8.30 p.m.
The captured elephant would be kept in the kraal near the entrance to the Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary for one month before being taken to an elephant training centre, the officials said.
