VIZIANAGARAM:‘Operation Gaja’ was launched by forest officials Friday to catch a rogue elephant at Janavarivalasa of Salur agency in Vizianagaram district on the Andhra-Odisha border. It is to save the pachyderm as its partner died last week after being electrocuted.
Around 200 forest staff from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts were deployed at Janavarivalasa to trap the tusker. The task involves searching for the elephant and the forest officials laying a trap with two trained elephants. The jumbos were specially trained by the Forest Department, to search and tame the missing elephant by making friends with it. Sources said that the operation was not only to save the elephant but also to prevent it from going berserk.
Recently some elephants have wreaked havoc in the areas of Mavudi, Kothavalsa and Nanda in Salur agency and laid waste to the fields. Last week a jumbo was electrocuted in the agency. The officials, as a measure to prevent occurrence of similar incidents, have launched the operation. IGZP veterinarian Navin, curator Ramalingam, divisional forest officers of both Srikakuam and Vizianagaram have intensified their search trials to complete the task.