MYSURU: The famous tusker, Thaneer, from Hassan district which was translocated two weeks ago to Bandipur Tiger Reserve died at Rampura elephant camp in the wee hours of Saturday. Environmentalists blame the foresters for the death.
The elephant was captured in Belur in Hassan district on January 16 after villagers had complained that the jumbo had regularly raided their crop. It was radio-collared and translocated to Bandipur Tiger Reserve and released into the wild in Moolehole forest range.
The tusker died after it was taken to Bandipur. As per the preliminary findings of the postmortem, the tusker died of a heart attack caused by stress.
However, the tusker had entered Mananthavady in Kerala. As the villagers expressed fear about the tusker, the forest department of Kerala on directions from the Kerala chief wildlife warden, launched an operation to capture the elephant on Friday afternoon.
They captured the tusker by hitting tranquillising dart. The first dart was hit at around 5.30 pm and the second dart at around 6.20 pm.
With the assistance of the camp elephants, the tusker was pushed into the truck at around 10.30 pm and then relocated to the Rampura camp in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve at around 10.30 pm in a wildlife ambulance.
Wildlife activists alleged that the tusker had become weak due to the overdose of tranquilliser. It is alleged that during the tussle to push the tusker into the truck, the tusk of the camp elephants had injured the tusker’s genitals and stomach.
Hediyala sub-division ACF K Paramesh said, “On February 1, the tusker entered the human habitat at Mananthavady town, creating panic among residents. As it was realised that chasing the tusker back into the wild was difficult, the foresters from both Kerala and Karnataka decided to capture it and release it into the Bandipur division,” he said.
Expert panel to probe elephant death
The forest department has formed an expert committee to probe the death of wild elephant Thaneer.
The panel has been directed to submit a report to the government within a month.
The panel includes Forest department Eastern Circle chief conservator K Vijayanandan, South Zone forest conservator M Neethulakshmi, Puthur Zoological Park assistant veterinary officer Dr R Raj, among others.
