From the wild to the kraal

The Forest and Wildlife Department on Tuesday captured a wild elephant that had spread terror among villagers in Kallur and Muthanga in Wayanad district for the past many years.

The tusker was captured from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) and shifted to a temporary kraal set up at Muthanga.

Minister for Forest K. Raju had directed the officials concerned a week ago to capture the tusker after it had attacked a farmer at Kallur.

A contingent of forest officials, veterinary doctors, tranquillizer experts, trackers and Kumki (trained) elephants were employed at the WWS to capture the elephant, known among villagers as ‘Bharatan SI’.

The operation began at 5 a.m. with the help of four Kumki elephants, P. Dhaneshkumar, who supervised the operation, told The Hindu .

The team located the animal in the Arupathiyezhu forest, near Kallur, at 5.30 a.m. Soon after, Arun Zachariah, a veterinary expert, fired the first tranquillizer shot followed by a mild dose later. When the pachyderm started to show symptoms of sedation, the Kumki elephants Vijay of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Kunju of the WWS led the rogue elephant to a mobile ambulance of the department around 8.30 a.m. Mudumalai and Pramugha, two Kumki elephants, assisted them.

The tusker was reported to be a regular crop raider. It had tried to attack many forest officials and villagers in the past. Though the forest personnel had attached a radio collar on it two yeas ago, it got lost, apparently in a fight between elephants. Later, the officials tried to drive it back to the forest with the help of trained elephants after attaching a new radio collar, but in vain.

The department is undecided on releasing the animal to the forest or retaining it as a Kumki elephant, an official said.