COIMBATORE: Yet again, wild elephant ‘Shankar’ slipped away from forest officials after a veterinarian shot him with tranquilliser dart in Poonjakolli in Gudalur Forest Division in Nilgiris district. Sources in the forest department said that Shankar was darted by N S Manokaran, veterinarian and former Joint Director of the Animal Husbandry department, at 1.20 pm.
He did not get into a semi-conscious state but moved inside the deep forest along with a herd, which included a cow elephant. Shankar is said to be in musth, which is suspected to be the reason for him to escape from the forest staff’s net.
Assistant Conservator of Forest C Dinesh, who is monitoring the operation for a week now, said that Manokaran darted Shankar from a 50-metre distance when the latter was about to move from one forest patch to another.
The operation shall be carried out again, after he moves to a suitable terrain, he said. “Unlike before, Shankar’s behaviour has changed a lot in the last two months, soon after he mingled with a herd of elephants,” Dinesh said.