KALPETTA : A wild elephant that strayed into Mananthavady town on Friday morning was captured by forest officials after a day-long effort. The officials plan to release the elephant — known as Thanneerkomban — into Bandipur forest in Karnataka, from where it had strayed into Kerala. After being pushed into a truck with the help of kumki elephants by 10pm, Thanneerkomban was taken to the Ramapuram elephant camp in Bandipur.
Earlier, a large team comprising forest department officials, Rapid Response Team members from Muthanga and veterinary experts tranquilised the elephant after their efforts to chase away the animal failed. The elephant had triggered panic in the region for hours, prompting the Mananthavady sub-collector to issue prohibitory orders in several divisions of the municipality and Edavaka panchayat.
The Karnataka forest department had captured the elephant from Hassan as part of its ‘Operation Jumbo’ and released it in Moolaholla on the Bandipur forest border — around 150km from Mananthavady — on January 16. It is learnt that the presence of the elephant has been recorded in Kerala since last week. It is assumed that the elephant reached Kerala via Kattikulam.
After entering the Mananthavady town around 6am, the elephant roamed around causing damage to crops. It also entered the KSRTC bus stand, court complex and several crowded places in the town.
The decision to tranquilise the elephant was made considering the difficulty in chasing the animal to the nearest forest, which is 20 km away, through populous areas. After bursting firecrackers 10 to 15 times, the elephant was shepherded to an open field. The first tranquiliser shot was fired at 5.35pm, followed by booster shots at 7.10pm. After being sedated, the elephant remained in the banana plantation for several hours. It was later shifted to the elephant ambulance with the help of Kumki elephants — Vikram, Suryan and Konni Surendran.
‘Constant movement of jumbo posed a challenge in tranquillising it’
“First we levelled the ground for the convenience of shifting the sedated animal to the elephant ambulance,” said Abdul Gafoor K P, Tholpetty forest range officer.
North Wayanad DFO Martin Lowell said a four-member team from the Karnataka forest department, along with their veterinary experts, have reached the spot.
“We had alerted the Karnataka forest officials in the morning. They will be assisting us in releasing the elephant back into the Karnataka forest. The elephant’s age and other details are yet to be confirmed. It appears to be above 20 years of age,” Lowell said.
Earlier, Mananthavady sub-collector Misal Sagar Baharat had issued the order prohibiting all types of public gatherings under section 144 of CrPC in divisions 24, 25, 26 and 27 of Mananthavady municipality and wards 4, 5 and 7 of Edavaka panchayat.
The district administration had advised parents not to send children to schools and asked people not to follow the elephant or take pictures.
“The constant movement of the elephant posed a challenge in tranquilising it. We considered chasing away the animal using kumki elephants, but it was not practical. Tranquilising the elephant was the other option available. However, the elephant was not violent,” said South Wayanad DFO Shajna A.