‘Operation Black’ to capture a wild elephant, nicknamed Karuppan, in Talavadi Hills, fix a radio collar it and translocate it, is expected to resume once kumkis arrive from the Theppakadu Elephant Camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Wednesday.
Karuppan has been causing extensive crop damage in farms in the region since December last year. Several attempts to tranquillize the pachyderm have so far failed, while farmers in the region have been upset over the delay.
Two kumkis, Bomman and Sujay, that were stationed at the base camp at Maharajapuram in Talavadi Forest Range for the operation from March 22 onwards, returned to MTR, for Prime Minister Nvarendra Modi’s visit on April 8. Since the Forest Department has planned to resume the operation at the earliest, a request for the two kumkis has been placed with MTR again.
K. Rajkumar, Conservator of Forests and Field Director, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) told The Hindu that the two kumkis are expected to arrive by Wednesday morning (April 12), after which the operation will resume. “The terrain in STR is totally different and the team is preparing to successfully complete the operation. In earlier operations, wild elephants were chased deep into the forest. This is the first time that an operation has been planned to capture and translocate it,” he said.
Meanwhile, an elephant herd damaged a banana plantation at Karalavadi village causing loss to the farmer, Udhayakumar. He said that four elephants had entered his farm and caused extensive damage to crops over the past two days, and asked for adequate compensation to be provided to him.
