Nearly six years after their first attempt drew a blank, authorities are once again sending a special team to Munnar to rein in rogue tuskers roaming the region.
A five-member team from Wayanad reached Munnar on Saturday to take steps to prevent human-elephant conflicts at Chinnakkanal and Santhanpara panchayats in the district. A decision in to this effect was taken at Tuesday’s high-level meeting at the Idukki collectorate.
The team comprises N. Roopesh, range forest officer, elephant squad, and rapid response team, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS), Vishnu O., conservation biologist, M.J. Raghavan, section forest officer, Aurnjith, beat forest officer, and Dinesh, forest watcher (all from WSS). Chief forest veterinary surgeon Arun Zacharia will join the team soon.
Officials said the team would monitor rogue tuskers, study the terrain, and form a route map. The team would hold discussions with Arun R.S., Chief Conservator of Forests, High Range Circle, Ramesh Bishnoi, Divisional Forest officer, Munnar, on Monday.
Mr. Roopesh said the team would monitor the rogue tuskers, including Arikomban, before initiating an action plan. “To capture the tuskers we need to know their mass body weight. In addition, we need to ascertain where kumkis (trained elephants) needed to capture the tuskers can be stationed,” he said.
“The terrain and the Anayirankal reservoir could pose difficulties. The team will first study the topographic details of the location and submit a report to the Munnar DFO. A meeting will be held on February 10 and discuss steps to be taken to address human-elephant conflict,” said Mr. Roopesh.
Shantri Tom, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Munnar, said the team first study the terrain of the region and monitor the behaviour of all elephants. Further steps would be based on the studies.
Officials said the Forest department tried to capture Arikompan from Anayirankal and release it to deep forests in August 2017. The attempt failed as the elephant could not be tranquilised.
An official said considering the previous incident, the department needed to know more about Arikompan before starting the mission.
Meanwhile, a farmer narrowly escaped a wild elephant attack at BL Ram, near Santhanpara, on Saturday. Sekharapandyan, 53, stumbled on a herd of four cow elephants in front of his farm around 2.30 p.m. Though he managed to escape, he fell down and was injured. He was admitted to the Medical College Hospital, Theni, in Tamil Nadu.
