The district got its second kumki on Thursday as Sujoy, a 35-year-old male elephant, arrived here. Born and raised in captivity in Mudhumalai Tiger Reserve of The Nilgiris district, Sujoy has decades of experience in driving back rogue elephants that venture out of forests.
District Forest Officer M. Senthil Kumar told The Hindu here on Thursday that Sujoy replaces Nanjan, a 56-year-old kumki, which died last February after prolonged illness. So far this year, elephant attacks have caused one death and three injuries in Coimbatore.
The elephant will be housed in the Forest Department kumki camp at Chadivayal in the foothills of Siruvani, about 23 km from Coimbatore.
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It will join Paari, the only other kumki in the conflict-prone district of Coimbatore.
They would be taken on perambulation trips along the forest boundary to prevent wild elephants from venturing out.
“Sujoy has taken part in many operations in Tamil Nadu and even in Kerala, whose Forest Department does not have kumkis. He was utilised to drive back wild elephants in Wayanad and other areas close to the border. As MTR share a border with Kerala, its kumkis are also frequently deployed in the State,” he said.
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Mr. Senthil said that the last elephant attack in the district took place on Tuesday at Kandiyur, about two km outside the Reserve Forest where an elephant left a man with hip injuries. However, the incidents are expected to decline now as rain would ensure there was adequate water source in the forest, the District Forest Officer said.