NILGIRIS: The wild elephant nicknamed ‘Radhakrishnan,’ which allegedly killed 12 persons across the Gudalur forest division since 2014, was captured on Tuesday afternoon at Ellamalai in O-Valley Panchayat near Gudalur. The bid to capture it had commenced three weeks ago.
The Gudalur forest division staff shifted the elephant to a temporary kraal (a wooden enclosure) at Abhayaranyam in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) where it will be tamed for a few weeks and then soft-released inside the forest after fixing a radio collar.
Close to 100 staff consisting of Anti-Poaching Watchers (APW), range officers as well as veterinarians, elephant trackers, and kumki elephants were involved in the capture.
The elephant was darted at 12.45 pm at Ellamalai as it came close to the wooden platform (‘machan’) set up on the tree branches.
A team consisting of Dr N Kalaivanan Forest Veterinary officer of Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve and K Rajesh Kumar, Veterinary Assistant Surgeon of Theppakadu, were monitoring the elephant from the platform.
After Radhakrishnan slumped into a semiconscious state, a few experienced tribal persons from the Theppakkadu elephant camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) tied its front and hind legs with ropes. Kumki elephants were stationed nearby to prevent the animal from moving further.
Subsequently, another injection was administered to the animal.
DFO Gudalur N Venkatesh Prabhu said “Our staff, including Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) headquarters Tushar Shinde and range officers of O-Valley, Naadukani, and Cherambadi, along with field-level staff, worked round the clock in the last three weeks. The elephant’s movements were monitored through thermal drones at night and thus we prevented it from approaching the human habitations.”
“We had prepared well before executing the plan successfully. Ellamalai has a flat terrain and a suitable place for tranquilising the animal safely,” said Prabhu.
This was the first attempt to capture a wild elephant in the O-Valley forest range. The last human death attributed to Radhakrishnan occurred at New Hope on August 11.