3 min readThiruvananthapuramJan 23, 2023 06:47 AM IST
First published on: Jan 22, 2023 at 04:46 PM IST
Kerala forest officials on Sunday captured a wild elephant, which had been terrorising several villages in Palakkad district for two years. The rogue tusker, code-named Palakkad Tusker-7 (P-7), was shot with tranquiliser darts in the morning.
Later, the elephant, which had been in the centre of blood-stained man-animal conflict in the Palakkad region, was kraaled into specially erected wooden enclosure where it would be converted into kumki elephant (captive tusker used for operations to capture rouge elephants).
Kerala Forest Minister A K Saseendran said it has been a laborious and dangerous task to capture this elephant. “I congratulate the forest team, which made the mission successful. There are more elephants in the region. The concern of people is real as elephant menace is on the rise in Kerala. We would keep an eye on other wild elephants in the region and decide on the next course of action after analysing the situation. The captured tusker P-7 is now an asset of the forest department. The elephant would be tamed into a trainer (kumki) and would be named after Dhoni village, where it has terrorised people,’’ he said.
Early this month, the forest department had decided to capture P-7, which has been terrorising Dhoni, Malampuzha, Akathekara villages in Palakkad. The elephant had allegedly trampled an elderly man to death last year. The decision to cage the wild tusker was taken in the wake of growing demand from the public to control the menace.
The first stage of the operation began three weeks ago with the construction of a sturdy cage, using logs of eucalyptus. The 15 ft long and 18 ft high enclosure was constructed in such a manner to withstand the ire of an untamed tusker. Recently, the forest department had mobilised three kumki elephants from Wayanad.
A 75-member team comprising forest officials had begun tracking P-7 on Saturday, a day after it had raided a paddy field near Dhoni village. The trackers and darting teams had spotted the rouge tusker but the mission had to be suspended for the day due to tough terrain. The tusker, which often moved in the company of other wild elephants, had moved to steep forest terrain, forcing the officials to wind up the task for the day.
On Sunday early morning, the task force resumed their mission, tracking down the elephant in a forest stretch near Mundur in Palakkad. Chief forest veterinary surgeon Dr Arun Zackaria fired the tranquiliser shots and later a booster doze to calm down the animal before capturing. With the help of three kumki elephants, P-7 was driven to a truck, which took the tusker out of the forest to the specially erected cage at Dhoni.
Dr Zackaria later told the media that the mission to capture the elephant was a very challenging one. “Tusker P-7 was seen along with two other elephants. This has delayed the operations. The training to convert P-7 into kumki elephant would start soon,’’ he said.
The tusker, P-7, in captivity in Palakkad district. (Express Photo) 
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