The people of Kannadipudur and nearby areas of Udumalpet, largely an agrarian region, were relieved after the wild elephant Chinna Thambi was captured on Friday. The elephant had halted nearly eight days in agricultural areas at Kannadipudur and six days at Krishnapuram, the 14 days out of the 17 days it spent outside the forests since January 31, five days after the translocation from Thadagam.
While the elephant made large-scale damages to the sugarcane fields belonging to Amaravathi Cooperative Sugar Mills at Krishnapuram, the crop raider became a concern for small farmers at Kannadipudur.
Three factors led the elephant to halt at the two places while it travelled over 120 km from Varagaliar, near Top Slip where it was translocated from Thadagam on January 26.
According to the Forest Department staff, both the places had the favourite crops of the elephant (sugarcane and banana), availability of water and safe hideouts to take rest during the day.
At Kannadipudur, the elephant engaged in the daily routine of taking rest from early morning to 4.30 p.m.
The elephant used to come out of the sugarcane field around 4.30 p.m. to consume water from a canal and raid other crops.
“It used to forage in the farms throughout the night and retract to the sugarcane field around 6 a.m. to take rest during the day. Though around 100 Forest Department staff were deployed in the locality, the residents were afraid of the presence of the wild animal as its musth stage was approaching,” said a forest official.