Udhagamandalam: The mission to capture the rogue tusker that killed three people at Pandalur taluk in the Nilgiris over the past few days continued for the second day on Thursday, but with little success.
On Wednesday, a team of forest officials had identified the elephant, which was part of a herd of five female elephants, two calves and three tuskers, and managed to tranquilize it by darting it with sedatives while it was roaming along the Nilgiris border.
However, escorted by its herd, the tusker moved inside the forest area. The whole effort was rendered fruitless.
Dr Sugumaran, forest veterinary officer, said they had traced the elephant to Cherambadi area in Pandalur taluk with the help of a drone and four kumki elephants from the Theppakadu elephant camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. “We successfully darted the tusker with sedatives at around 2.20pm. Before the trackers could approach the elephant, it was surrounded by the herd.”
He said the sedation would last only for half an hour. “The animal would then recover within three to four hours.”
On Thursday, the team started the mission in the early hours of the day by deploying a drone and trackers to trace the elephant, but in vain. The drive will continue on Friday.
“We could spot the herd with one more tusker. The elephant that we identified yesterday (Wednesday) was missing. We guess it might have moved to another forest patch,” Sugumaran said.
A team has been deployed at the elephant crossing point in the Cherambadi forest area to trace the man-killer. Local people have also been asked to inform the forest department of elephant movement, if any, in their areas.
Named Sullikomban and Othaikomaban by locals, the rogue elephant had unleashed terror in Pandalur taluk in 2016. “We had then received orders to capture the animal along with another elephant. While we captured the other elephant, this one strayed into Kerala forests,” Sukumaran said.
The tusker was again spotted in the Pandalur forest area a year ago. “But it remained calm and didn’t cause any man-elephant conflicts. However, it has been on a rampage over the past few days, killing three people in Cherambadi area,” the officer said.
He said they had renamed the tusker as Shankar recently while profiling the elephants in the Gudalur forest division.