Two roaming tuskers tranquillised near Tirupattur town

After days of failed attempts to send back two tuskers into deep reserve forests on Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border, the forest officials tranquillised them near Tirupattur town on Thursday evening.

After days of failed attempts to send back two tuskers into deep reserve forests on Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border, the forest officials tranquillised them near Tirupattur town on Thursday evening.

Tirupattur Collector D. Bhasakara Pandian, who monitored the entire operation, told The Hindu that after much waiting, the decision to tranquillise the elephants was taken based on the joint meeting with senior forest officials including D. Sujatha, Conservator of Forests, Vellore division; Naga Sathish Gidijala, District Forest Officer (DFO) and K.S. Balla Krisshnan, Superintendent of Police.

The operation was done at Thippa Samudram village around 5.30 p.m. with the help of three kumki elephants and over 100 forest officials from Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Coimbatore. “The decision was taken to ensure the safety of everyone including the wild elephants. Relocation of two tuskers to elephant camps or reserve forests depends on decision by senior forest officials and experts,” Mr. Pandian said.

Forest officials said that early in the day, three male kumkis Wilson and Udayan from Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Chinnathambai from Anamalai Tiger Reserve came by road. They stayed on the campus of Don Bosco School.  

Separated from the herd along the migration route from their base area, Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary in Chittoor, more than a week ago, the two elephants were roaming in villages along forest areas in Krishnagiri and Tirupattur districts. Forest officials said that two persons were killed by these elephants in Krishnagiri district last week. However, there were no human casualties in Tirupattur district so far.  

Since then, the elephants have been camping in villages along the national highway in Natrampalli and Kandali taluks and RFs in Yelagiri Hills of Tirupattur district. These villages are known for paddy, sugarcane and mango cultivation.

Forest teams from Vaniyambadi, Ambur and Natrampalli ranges have been deployed in 10 villages including Jangalapuram, Ellapalli, Athurkuppam, Kulima Kollai and Thottikinaru along the highway to prevent residents from venturing out of their houses as forest officials said that movement of elephants would be mostly during night. Earlier, five police check points, especially on the national highway, to a distance of 3 km have been set up to prevent the crowd from gathering to watch the elephants.