NILGIRIS: A captive elephant attached to the Abhayaranyam elephant camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) was injured after a drunk kavadi (elephant keeper) allegedly hacked her with a sickle. The incident occurred in the wee hours of August 2.
Sources at the camp told the TNIE that the captive elephant, Sumangala (38), was left untied at night and was grazing when she approached Shankar II (36), another jumbo at the camp. Usually, Sumangala goes near other elephants at the camp as a friendly gesture, but things took an ugly turn when Shankar allegedly pushed her.
Sumangala retaliated, leading to a clash. As Shankar was still tied up, Sumangala then attacked him. Upon hearing the trumpeting noise, kavadi Vikram, a temporary elephant keeper who was looking after Shankar, reached the spot. He was allegedly drunk at the time, and hacked Sumangala’s foot on one of the hind legs with a sickle.
After the incident, forest department officials suspended Vikram, who has over 10 years experience in handling captive elephants.
Later, MTR officials issued a memo to Sumangala’s mahout Kirumaran.
Sources said Kirumaran was away, visiting a sick relative at Alloor when the incident occurred. Kirumaran had left Sumangala under the care of his assistant Maadan, and learnt of the incident upon returning the next morning.
Further, sources said the cut on Sumangala’s foot is five-and-a-half-inch in length and three-inch deep. The wound is likely to heal within three months.
“After the incident, Sumangala was shifted to the Theppakkadu elephant camp and is tied up at the night to prevent her from walking,” sources said.