Tusker Karuppan, a nightmare to Thalavadi farmers, captured

Erode: Forest officials on Monday managed to capture ‘Karuppan’, a wild tusker involved in damaging crops in the Thalavadi forest range for the past few weeks. This is the second attempt by the department to capture the elephant after the failed attempt in January this year
Hasanur divisional forest officer Devendra Kumar Meena told TOI that the tusker was captured with the support of two Kumki elephants - Mariappan and Chinna Thambi.
“Forest personnel were waiting in a sugarcane field at Maharajapuram hamlet from Sunday night. The tusker came there around 3am. Immediately, a veterinarian shot a dart of tranquilizer at the elephant. It worked and the tusker struggled to move further. The kumki elephants then approached the tusker to move it towards a truck. Despite its condition, the tusker fought with Chinna Thambi, which later overpowered Karuppan,” said the official.
After two hours of struggle, forest officials loaded the tusker onto the truck and shifted it to Thalavadi.
After checking its health condition, a veterinarian said the tusker is stable.
Forest officials said the tusker might be relocated to the Karkekandi forest near Andhiyur on Tuesday early morning. They said the tusker would be monitored .
Meanwhile, farmers in the Thalavadi region expressed happiness over the capture of the tusker. K Vinoth, a farmer, recalled that the tusker would come out of forests in the early morning and damage standing crops resulting in a huge loss to farmers.