COIMBATORE: Veterinary Assistant Surgeon of Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) K Vijayaragavan was injured in a wild elephant attack at a grove in Parameswaran Palayam near Thondamuthur early on Saturday. He is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city.
The incident occurred when a team consisting of veterinarian Vijayaragavan, along with forest range officers V Thirumurugan (Coimbatore), K Jayachandran (Boluvampatti), wild elephant trackers, Anti Poaching Watchers (APWs), Kumki mahouts and kavadis were monitoring the behaviour of the tusker, ‘Rolex’, in a bid to capture him.
The veterinarian, along with the members in the team, was walking behind the animal at the banana plantation grove at 1.15 am on Saturday when the animal suddenly turned and pushed him down.
The others managed to escape from the spot. After noticing the incident, a few members in the vehicle honked and shouted to prevent the animal from charging at the veterinarian.
Subsequently, the tusker left the place and Vijayaragavan was rescued.
Sources in the forest department said that there were no major injuries to the veterinarian.
A senior official of the forest department said Vijayaragavan got minor injuries on his finger and back, and he was taken to a private hospital on Mettupalayam Road, where he underwent a full CT and MRI scan.
“He has a small burst fracture in the twelfth thoracic vertebra (T12) and left ring finger distal phalanx has an open fracture, and he also underwent minor surgery in his spine,” said the official.
Explaining about the monitoring of the wild elephant nicknamed ‘Rolex’ at night, a forest range office denied that they have attempted to tranquilise the animal to capture it. Further, the officer said they are trying to understand its behaviour by monitoring it, before proceeding to tranquilise it.
“We have been monitoring the animal round-the-clock to prevent further escalation of human-animal conflict wherever the animal is moving and how it is behaving. This will be helpful in administering the injection as part of tranquilsing the animal for capture. The usual behaviour of the animal is to charge towards humans. After regular monitoring, it was found that ‘Rolex’ was in musth (a periodic condition in bull elephants),” said an official involved in the operation.