The lone elephant that had been creating panic at Salur in the Parvathipuram Agency area of Vizianagaram district was captured on Tuesday and shifted to Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
“The elephant is 10 years old and will be here in the zoo,” curator G. Ramalingam told The Hindu .
“It is a wild elephant and has to be trained to accept human presence and understand some basic commands from its handler,” he said.
The Forest Department is yet to take a decision on whether to keep it in the zoo or shift it to the Elephant Camp in Chittoor district.
“There are some 27 basic commands that animals are taught to respond. The process of training requires dedicated effort by the trainer,” said noted zoo veterinarian M. Navin Kumar, who supervised the tranquilising of the elephant in ‘Operation Gaja’.
The basic issue was the terrain. It had many hillocks. The operation had to be planned to ensure that the elephant was in the open and there were no waterholes or pits in the area before you shoot the tranquiliser dart at it, he said.
“It takes 10-15 minutes for the tranquiliser to work and that time is enough for the elephant to run for more than five km,” he explained.
The two ‘kunkis’ – domesticated elephants – brought from Chittoor by the Forest Department to lead the stray elephant into the open and into the trap laid by the department did their job well. The operation went off smoothly, the Hyderabad-based veterinarian said.
The two ‘kunkis’ are likely to be kept in the zoo for a few days to help in the training process.
