NILGIRIS: All arrangements are in place to capture a wild elephant nicknamed 'Radhakrishnan' at O-Valley in the Gudalur forest division.
This is the first elephant capturing operation being executed at O-Valley forest range marked by high slopes and tea estates.
The elephant which has been suspected of killing 12 persons since 2014, roams within a 25 square kilometre area comprising tea and coffee plantations in the surroundings of Subash Nagar, Arottuparai, New Hope Tiruvalluvar Nagar and Bharathi nagar in the O-Valley Panchayat.
While four kumki elephants — Vijay, Vasim, Bomman and Srinivasan — have been stationed to help in the safe capture of the wild animal.
Once captured a radio collar will be worn to monitor it.
As per the order of Chief Wildlife Warden Rakesh Kumar Dogra, the captured animal will be lodged in kraal at Theppakkadu in Mudumalai and then soft released inside the forest after three weeks or a month
Gudalur DFO N Venkatesh Prabhu said "We are not pushing the elephant to move it to a safer location. We are waiting for the animal itself to reach Kurumbar Padi in Ellamalai which is a prime and safe location for darting it. The elephant can reach this place which is only 500 meters away. We had adopted a similar method successfully in capturing another wild elephant nicknamed 'Bullet' in December 2024.
"A total of 100 staff under the six teams headed by the forest range officers of the division is engaged in capturing the animal safely. We have been tracking the animal using thermal drones as well as senior elephant trackers. Two veterinarians including K Rajesh Kumar of Theppakkadu are prepared to handle the situation," the official added.