Three jumbos radio-collared

The Forest Department staff have captured and radio-collared three elephants, including a tusker, in an operation that began last week. A tusker aged about 25 was captured at Mattur near Sakleshpur on Tuesday evening for radio-collaring.

Deputy Conservator of Forests K.N. Basavaraj told The Hindu: “A problematic male elephant has been captured. It will be radio-collared and released in the remote wild area.” The operation to radio-collar four elephants and capture one tusker began on January 21. So far, two female and one male elephant have been radio-collared. “One more female will be radio-collared” the officer said. The elephants are radio-collared to track the movement of herds so that local people can be alerted. The department has a mechanism to send messages across the villages in Alur and Sakaleshpur taluks to inform people about movement of the herds.

Elephants from Mysuru have been brought in for the operation.