Saturday, February 02, 2019

Wild elephant Chinnathambi to be captured, says Forest Minister


The tusker continues to venture into villages near Pollachi and Udumalpet, and will have to be captured and turned to a kumki
Translocated wild elephant Chinnathambi, which continues to venture into villages near Pollachi and Udumalpet in Tamil Nadu, will have to be captured and turned to a kumki, Minister for Forests Dindigul C. Sreenivasan said here on Saturday.  

"There is no other option left. It has to be captured again (to be tamed as kumki)" Mr. Sreenivasan told The Hindu.  

According to the Minister, the Forest Department took all efforts to rehabilitate the wild elephant in the forest, first by driving it out to the forests of Thadagam valley, its home turf, and then translocating it to Varagaliar forest near Top Slip.  

"The elephant has been entering villages in the last few days even after translocation and has crossed over 80 km. Now the animal has stationed itself near Udumalpet. The Government has a larger role to protect the lives of the people and their agricultural fields. There is no other option left now but to capture the animal and tame it to be used as a kumki," said Mr. Sreenivasan, addressing a gathering at the Ecological Conference for Saving the Western Ghats being held in Coimbatore.  

Chinnathambi, a tusker aged around 25 years, was translocated to Varagaliar on January 26. On Saturday morning, Chinnathambi was at Ammapatty near Udumalpet.

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