190-Ramapuram is a nondescript village in the Gudipala mandal of Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, close to the border with Tamil Nadu. It made headlines on the dawn of August 30, when a lone elephant in musth trampled a farmer couple to death, critically injured three other villagers, and killed about ten head of cattle.
A few hours before it was captured on August 31, the wild elephant trampled a woman farmer at Bodinettam village near Katpadi in Tamil Nadu, before re-entering Chittoor district.
The raging bull continued to wreak terror in a dozen villages on the Chittoor-Tamil Nadu border till the evening of August 31.
The lone elephant, considered “very dangerous” by the Forest Department, had made its way to the thin forest range of Gudipala mandal, straying from its habitat in the Maharaja Kadai forests of Tamil Nadu 140 km away, criss-crossing jungle patches and fields along the way.
Venkatesh (65) and Selvi (55), impoverished agriculture labourers, were engrossed in removing weeds at a mango orchard when the lone elephant attacked and killed them before throwing them into an adjoining sugarcane field. The bull also critically injured three other villagers when they rushed to the couple’s rescue. While escaping from the mob, it fatally attacked ten cattle.
Upon hearing from villagers, a team of forest officials from Chittoor rushed to Ramapuram village. About 100 personnel, including watchers, animal trackers and beat officers from six ranges in Chittoor and Tirupati districts were deployed for ‘Operation Gaja’ to subdue the lone elephant on rampage.
Kumkis (trained elephants) Jayanth and Vinayak from the Naniyala Forest Camp at Ramakuppam in the Kuppam forest range were brought in special vehicles. The search for the lone elephant continued from morning till late at night on Wednesday, but without success. By daybreak on Thursday, rumours had spread like wildfire that an elephant had killed a woman farmer at Bodinettam village, a few kilometres away, in Tamil Nadu, confirming its location to somewhere within a radius of five kilometres. Forest Department officials then deployed a drone camera from Tirupati. After a five-hour-long aerial survey, the bull elephant was located in the middle of a sugarcane field, under cover of foliage at the ground level.
The two kumkis, led by the highly experienced mahouts, jumped into action. For a couple of hours, the wild jumbo desperately tried to get away from the forest personnel and the pursuing kumkis. Finally, when the exhausted elephant was standing under a tree, a tranquilliser arrow was shot at it. In a few minutes, the two kumkis had accomplished their task. The sedated bull was captured and its movement controlled with ropes.
Slowly and steadily, with its head bent, the bull elephant followed the kumkis. After a medical examination, the captured elephant was loaded onto a truck, which made its way to the S.V. Zoo Park in Tirupati, 80 km away.
Bidding adieu to the forest personnel and trumpeting a call of assurance to villagers, Vinayak and Jayanth boarded their vehicles and returned to their camp. Forest officials and villagers gave full credit to the trained jumbos for their critical role in Operation Gaja.
190-Ramapuram village has since then seen a stream of visitors, including political leaders who handed over ex-gratia to the kin of the deceased couple.
Forest officials said there are four lone elephants roaming around different mandals in the Palamaner and Kuppam forest ranges. The Yadamarri and Bangarupalem mandals adjoining the Chittoor Corporation limits are also prone to frequent visits from lone elephants. There have been several instances of lone elephants killing people in rural Chittoor over the past decade.
Meanwhile, the Koundinya elephant sanctuary, spread over 800 sq. km. and flanked by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with a population of about 200 wild elephants, both migratory and resident, is coming up at the tri-State junction in Chittoor. There are a number of gaps without solar fencing or trenches surrounding the sanctuary, and vulnerable forest stretches in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which remain under threat from human-elephant conflict. Most lone elephants in musth have been intruders from neighbouring States.
