Monday, February 04, 2019

Wild tusker eats, drinks and makes merry


Tirupur: Ignoring the steps taken by the forest department to smoke him out of a farm at Madathukulam taluk here, wild elephant Chinna Thambi was found munching on a sugarcane on Monday.

The department is struggling to drive the elephant from the farm owned by Amaravathi Co-operative Society Sugar Mills to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR). It has deployed 80 forest staff, including 50 anti-poaching watchers, to monitor the tusker roundthe-clock.

“Chinna Thambi is doing fine despite being away from the forest. It is mingling with kumki elephants Khaleem and Mariappan brought from Topslip. The farm has plenty of sugarcane and water,” chief conservator of forests V Ganesan told TOI. “We took steps to drive it towards the forest area with the help of the kumki elephants. We thought that it would move along with the taming elephants as the three were sharing a cordial relationship. But, after following them for a short distance, Chinna Thambi returned to the sugarcane farm.”

Meanwhile, a medical team led by veterinarian Dr Manoharan reached the spot to take stock of the 25-year-old animal’s health.

The team, which observed the activities of the elephant, said it was doing fine.

Meanwhile, a forest official said it will not be easy to drive Chinna Thambi to ATR, which is 15km away, overnight. “We have decided to wait and watch for now.”

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