In a pre-dawn operation on Friday, the Forest Department, equipped with a four member kumki squad, zeroed in on Chinnathambi and tranquillised it for translocation.
Capturing and translocation of Chinnathambi and Vinayagan, the two wild tuskers, had been the persistent demand of the farmers in Thadagam Valley, accusing the elephants of crop raid and damage to houses. Only about 40-days ago, Vinayagan was tranquillised and translocated to Mudumalai.
The Department had already deployed kumkis Cheran and Vijay at Thadagam. By Wednesday, it commandeered two more kumkis Mudumalai (55) from Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Khaleem (45) from Anamalai Tiger Reserve, thus signalling the department’s firm resolve to translocate the second elephant as well. Kumki Khaleem was already involved in an operation to capture a wild elephant that killed four persons near Vellalore in 2017.
For the last two-days, Kumkis were being made familiar with the terrain, while anti depredation squad watchers kept monitoring Chinnathambi and were waiting for the target animal to reach a terrain far from human habitations and slopes.
The department was already equipped with the orders to tranquillise and translocate both the elephants.
The operation was named as Chinnathambi Gaja Yatra meaning shifting him from a fragmented forest to a natural habitat, said Deepak Srivastava, Chief Conservator of Forests - Coimbatore Circle.
The operation was carried out by a 60-member team led by Deepak Srivastava, District Forest Officer D Venkatesh, Assistant Conservator of Forests C Dinesh Kumar and Range Officer S. Suresh.
On sighting Chinnathambi at a place close to where Vinayagan was tranquilised, the Department moved the kumkis and cornered it on the right side of Anubhavi Subramaniyan temple. The veterinary team led by N.S. Manoharan comprised K. Ashokan, N Kalaivanan and E Vijayaraghavan. Retired forest official and sharp shooter S Thangaraj Panneerselvam also joined the team.
A first injection was darted with mild dose of sedative. It narrowly missed the target by just brushing the animal sideways. On examination it was found that 50 per cent of the sedative remained in the syringe. The second dart brought Chinnathambi under the control of Forest Department even before it was dawn.
But dramatic scenes unfolded when the personnel approached the animal, only to find a female elephant and a calf in the vicinity. The personnel found it difficult to wean Chinnathambi away from the female elephant and calf. The female elephant charged at the forest personnel. With the help of lead kumkis Vijay from Mudumalai and Khaleem from Anamalai Tiger Reserve finally, the personnel chased away the female elephant and calf in to the Reserve forest. A final dart was injected into Chinnathambi to board him on to the truck.
Operation to tranquilise Chinnathambi proved to be difficult and tough compared to the operation carried out to shift Vinayagan.
Conflict level in Thadagam Valley is likely to scale down considerably with the shifting of the elrphant, which had made forest boundaries its home range over the last two years, said Mr. Venkatesh.
By Friday evening, Chinnthambi will be shifted to a rich and natural habitat away from human habitations, the officials said.
