Rogue-turned-kumki Chinna Thambi helps capture makhna elephant in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: For more than two weeks, a makhna elephant (a male without tusks) has been creating havoc on the periphery of Coimbatore. Once captured and relocated to the forest, the giant returned to haunt residents. That's when the forest department decided to bring in Chinna Thambi, a rogue elephant that was domesticated the hard way, to tame the menacing makhna.
In an operation that lasted at least three hours on Thursday, Chinna Thambi helped forest personnel and veterinarians tranquilise and capture the makhna.
Residents of Perur in Coimbatore heaved a sigh of relief after the forest department personnel captured the 40-year-old crop-raiding makhna in a plantain field. The elephant was spotted at Sugunapuram near Kuniyamuthur in Coimbatore on Wednesday night and later it moved towards Puttuvikki Road, said S Ramasubramanian, field director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR). "We monitored the elephant and obtained permission from the chief office to tranquilise it," he said.
A team led by forest veterinary officer Dr A Sukumar of the Coimbatore forest division, Dr Sadasivam from the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), Dr A Prakash from the Hasanur forest division and retired forest veterinary officer Dr N S Manoharan darted the animal four times. Two darts hit the target between 4pm and 5pm.
With the help of Chinna Thambi, which was brought from the Varakaliyar elephant camp for the operation, mahouts tied ropes around the half-sedated makhna's neck and legs and led it to a customised truck.
Chinna Thambi prodded the makhna and local residents, led by forest staff, pulled the ropes to lead the animal into the truck.
It was loaded into the vehicle around 7pm. A radio collar has been fitted around the neck of elephant to track its movement. It will be released in the reserve forest. The makhna elephant was first captured from Dharmapuri and translocated to Varakaliyar in ATR on February 6, ATR deputy director K Bhargava Teja said.
"But it left the forest on February 19. As many as 70 forest department personnel followed it from Sethumadai to Coimbatore. We tried to drive it to the Madukkarai reserve forest, but it walked towards the north side. After eight hours of operation, we successfully tranquilized the animal," he told TOI. The elephant damaged some crops. We will compensate the farmers immediately."
The elephant walked more than 100km from Sethumadai to reach Perur, veterinary officer Sukumar said. "We are going to give it a second chance to stay inside the deep forest," he added.
More than 100 frontline staff of the forest department and 100 police personnel had worked tirelessly from Monday night to prevent man-animal conflict.
Kumki Chinna Thambi, which played a vital role in the operation, used to be a crop-raider. The tusker raided agricultural fields in Thadagam valley in Coimbatore forest division in 2018 and was captured on January 25, 2019.