Coimbatore: The three kumkis (captive elephants) that were brought from Anamalai Tiger Reserve to help Forest Department Authorities sent the radio collar of a wild elephant back to Topslip for rejuvenation at Mettupalayam on Wednesday.
The forest department said that three kumkis brought to Mettupalayam more than a month ago started experiencing physical changes, including injuries to their legs and feet, as the change in location forced them to take the decision. The project of giving radio collars to elephants has also been postponed after the monsoon season.
The forest department had brought in three kumkis—Kalim, Venkatesh and Mariyappan—from ATR Radio caller to Mettupalayam for helping the wild elephant Bahubali in a process. The male tusker elephant, Bahubali, was a known crop attacker in the last three to four areas in the Mettupalayam-Sirumugai forest range.
“After receiving a lot of complaints from farmers on crop loss, we decided to radio collar the elephant. Bahubali is also so used to eating humans and outside the forest, that it does not respond to any farmer or our intimidation tactics. He’s not even dangerous,” added Sirumugai Forest Officer Senthil Kumar.
The decision to radio collar the elephant was taken to identify the route and timing of its exit from the forest so that they could send it back to the border itself and for research purposes as it covered distances in and out of forests. Why does he not eat inside the forest etc. “However, the radio collaring required us to get the elephant to a suitable location – in the plains – by 5 pm. However, twice it came close to dark and then completely avoided us,” said Senthil Kumar On and off rain further disrupted the plans.
However, by this time two out of three kumis had started to become physically stressed. “Two of them refused to lie down for their entire time at Mettupalayam. Thus, due to standing together for several days putting so much weight on their feet, their feet got hurt. “They couldn’t easily adapt to change places,” he said.
District Forest Officer Venkatesh Durairaj Said that this was “necessary to rejuvenate the kumkis. The work of fixing the radio collar will resume once the appropriate weather has arrived and the animal has arrived at the appropriate location.” “At present it is raining here as well and many rivers and streams within the forests get high level of water from Ooty area. At present Bahubali is in Nellithurai Reserve Forest Area, which is an unsuitable place for fixing collars.”
The forest department said that three kumkis brought to Mettupalayam more than a month ago started experiencing physical changes, including injuries to their legs and feet, as the change in location forced them to take the decision. The project of giving radio collars to elephants has also been postponed after the monsoon season.
The forest department had brought in three kumkis—Kalim, Venkatesh and Mariyappan—from ATR Radio caller to Mettupalayam for helping the wild elephant Bahubali in a process. The male tusker elephant, Bahubali, was a known crop attacker in the last three to four areas in the Mettupalayam-Sirumugai forest range.
“After receiving a lot of complaints from farmers on crop loss, we decided to radio collar the elephant. Bahubali is also so used to eating humans and outside the forest, that it does not respond to any farmer or our intimidation tactics. He’s not even dangerous,” added Sirumugai Forest Officer Senthil Kumar.
The decision to radio collar the elephant was taken to identify the route and timing of its exit from the forest so that they could send it back to the border itself and for research purposes as it covered distances in and out of forests. Why does he not eat inside the forest etc. “However, the radio collaring required us to get the elephant to a suitable location – in the plains – by 5 pm. However, twice it came close to dark and then completely avoided us,” said Senthil Kumar On and off rain further disrupted the plans.
However, by this time two out of three kumis had started to become physically stressed. “Two of them refused to lie down for their entire time at Mettupalayam. Thus, due to standing together for several days putting so much weight on their feet, their feet got hurt. “They couldn’t easily adapt to change places,” he said.
District Forest Officer Venkatesh Durairaj Said that this was “necessary to rejuvenate the kumkis. The work of fixing the radio collar will resume once the appropriate weather has arrived and the animal has arrived at the appropriate location.” “At present it is raining here as well and many rivers and streams within the forests get high level of water from Ooty area. At present Bahubali is in Nellithurai Reserve Forest Area, which is an unsuitable place for fixing collars.”
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