Dummy ration shop, 4 kumki elephants, sturdy cage: Kerala’s bid to capture wild jumbo ‘Arikomban’

People of Santhanpara and Chinnakanal panchayats in Idukki have been demanding the capture of Arikomban, which has a history of trampling ten people to death and destroying around 60 houses and shops.

In the last year alone, it raided a single public distribution system (PDS) shop in the region eight times. Recently, the elephant waylaid a truck and pulled down a bag of grains. The residents say the rice tusker prefers to eat rice, atta and wheat.

This is the second time the forest department is trying to capture the elephant, which had escaped the previous attempt in 2017.

Forest officials said a 71-member rapid response team, spread into 11 groups and headed by chief forest veterinary surgeon Dr Arun Zackariah, would be part of the mission.

The officials plan to lure the elephant by converting a dilapidated building at Chinnakanal into a provisions store where rice and other grains would be stocked. After being captured with tranquiliser shots, Arikomban would be taken to the elephant training centre at Kodanad in Ernakulam district, said officials.

The department has already begun mobilising its four kumki elephants from Wayanad to Idukki to herd the tranquilised rogue pachyderm to truck and later into a cage already constructed at the elephant training centre. The sturdy cage has been constructed using the logs of eucalyptus to withstand the ire of an untamed tusker, said officials. These kumki elephants have taken part in similar missions in recent years.

After a meeting of forest officials, representatives of resorts and plantations, and local body members, Idukki district collector Sheeba George said prohibitory orders would be clamped at Shanthanpara and Chinnakanal panchayats on March 25.

Considering the region’s rough terrain where Arikomban is moving around, the operation would be carried out with extreme caution. During the mission, entry for onlookers and even vloggers would be banned and traffic restricted, according to officials.

“The mission will start at 4 am on March 25 and is expected to be over by noon. If the mission fails on the first day, it will resume the next day. We will hold a mock drill for officials on Friday,” said the collector.

Earlier this year, forest officials captured a rogue elephant at the centre of man-animal conflict at Dhoni in Palakkad. The rogue tusker, code-named Palakkad Tusker-7 (P-7), was shot with tranquiliser darts.