Search continues for wild elephant Karuppan in all forest ranges of Erode district

With the wild elephant ‘Karuppan’ last sighted on May 7 in the Anthiyur Forest Range, the Forest Department is continuing to search for the tusker in all the forest ranges in both Erode Division and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR).

With the wild elephant ‘Karuppan’ last sighted on May 7 in the Anthiyur Forest Range, the Forest Department is continuing to search for the tusker in all the forest ranges in both Erode Division and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR).  

The crop-raiding elephant, who first entered villages in the district in December last year, was captured in Talavadi Hills on April 17, after months of efforts by the Forest Department, and was translocated and released into the Thattakarai forest range in Erode Division. Since a radio collar was not fixed, the tusker could not be tracked, and, in search of food, it walked out of the Anthiyur forest range. On May 4, the elephant reached Perumugai village where it trampled to death P. Sitheeswaran of the same village. 

Efforts by the Forest Department to capture it and translocate it did not materialise as the elephant then moved into the interiors of the forest and could not be tracked. Veterinarians searched for the animal in Kadambur and Thattakarai forest ranges on May 10 and 11 but this effort was in vain. And so, from Thursday, May 11, Forest Department staff in all the divisions began to search for the tusker. This has continued into Friday, May 12.

N. Venkatesh Prabhu, District Forest Officer, Erode Division, told  The Hindu that the elephant could not be tracked so far. “Since food and water is available in the interior parts of these forests, the elephant could possibly be in one of these areas,” he said and added that Forest Department staff in all the ranges are continuing to look for the elephant. 

Meanwhile, the Talavadi Farmers’ Association has urged the government to increase the solatium provided to the families of victims who have died of elephant attacks from ₹5 lakh to ₹15 lakh. . The association’s president, S. Kannaiyan said that when a human life is lost due to an elephant attack in the Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple (BRT) tiger reserve in Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka, the victim’s family is paid a solatium of ₹15 lakh whereas in Tamil Nadu, the solatium is only ₹5 lakh. “The solatium should be increased to ₹15 lakh on a par with other States like Karnataka,” he demanded. 

The victim Sitheeswaran’s family was given ₹50,000 as initial compensation while the balance ₹4.5 lakh would be paid to the family soon, officials said.