A wild elephant, nicknamed Karuppan, that was involved in frequent incidents of crop raiding and conflicts with humans in Talavadi Hills for over a year, was captured in an early morning operation, here on April 17, 2023. The elephant was translocated and released into the interior forest area at Thattakarai Forest Range in Erode Division in the evening.
Devendra Kumar Meena, District Forest Officer, Hasanur Division, and Deputy Director of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, (STR) told The Hindu veterinarians fired a tranquillizer dart and the elephant was sedated between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. at a sugarcane field, owned by Moorthy at Maharajapuram village near Jerahalli Forest Range of Hasanur Division in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
With the help of two kumkis— Chinnathambi and Mariyappan from Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR)— the tusker was loaded onto a truck and transported to Thattakarai and released.
The operation, monitored by K. Rajkumar, Conservator of Forests and Field Director, STR, was led by Mr. Devendra Kumar Meena and his team comprising Forest Ranger Officers S. Satheesh (Talavadi) and M. Ramalingam (Jerahalli), four wildlife veterinarians S. Sadasivam (STR), E. Vijayaraghavan (ATR), A. Prakash (Hosur) and N.S. Manoharan (retired) and watchers, guards and anti-poaching watchers (APWs).
Though officials had earlier planned to fix a radio collar on it, the idea was dropped and the elephant was released into the forest located in Tamil Nadu - Karnataka border. Mr. Rajkumar said that APWs would monitor the elephant movement and asked people not to panic.
The elephant had caused extensive damage to crops in fringe villages located near the forest ranges of Talavadi and Jerahalli and had killed two farmers in recent months. Farmers in Rangasamy Kovil area, where crop raids were frequent, heaved a sigh of relief. Farmers near Joraikadu, an isolated forest area spread across 430 hectare where the elephant was found during day time, wanted compensation for crop damage settled at the earliest.
S. Kannaiyan, president of Talavadi Farmers’ Association, thanked the Forest Department for the efforts taken. The earlier operations, carried out in January and March this year, were unsuccessful as the elephant that was darted at least six times on various dates was not fully sedated and it entered the forest area. This is the first time in STR that an elephant was captured and translocated successfully.
