‘Makhna’ elephant captured in Coimbatore, shifted to rescue truck amid stiff resistance

COIMBATORE

A wild ‘makhna’ elephant was tranquillized and shifted to a rescue truck of the Forest Department with the support of a ‘kumki’ elephant, bigger than the ‘makhna’, at a banana field in Coimbatore on Thursday.

The elephant had entered Coimbatore on Tuesday, and exhibited aggressive behaviour in localities near Madukkarai on Wednesday. The operation by the Forest Department began at 2 p.m. and went on till late evening. The elephant evaded the first two darts, but got hit by the third. Once the animal was subdued, it was shifted to an open truck.

Sources in the Forest Department said the elephant’s capture was a huge relief for farmers on the fringes and adjoining areas of Pollachi Forest Division, where it had raided crops on vast swathes of fields soon after being translocated from Palacode in Dharmapuri for the same reason.

The team wanted to capture the elephant before sunset as it had exhibited traits of getting active during dusk over the last two days. The animal stiffly resisted efforts to move it to the rescue truck. “It was because the animal had already gone through the process at Palacode,” Elephant Conservationist Abraham Raj, who was present on the spot as an observer, said.

As the ‘makhna’ elephant was being moved to the truck, the ‘kumki’ elephant, Chinnathambi, kept pushing it from behind while volunteers pulled the rope fastened to the elephant’s neck and legs from the front. The elephant displayed signs of aggression after being moved to the truck and tried to get down by moving backwards, prompting the veterinary team to administer a strong dose of sedative. Thereafter, it calmed down.

The elephant would be radio-collared before release in a suitable forest area. This is to warn people before it moves towards residential areas, said Field Director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve S. Ramasubramanian.