Tusker in Cuttack triggers panic

CUTTACK: Forest department officials struggled for hours to drive away a
tusker, which strayed into CDA area in early hours of Monday, but in vain.

The tusker hid itself in a cashew orchard and stayed put there. Panic
gripped the residents after the tusker was spotted in Sector 9 of CDA
residential area. Residents contacted forest officials to chase away the
tusker.

A team of 12 forest officials rushed to the spot and were trying to chase
the tusker away using firecrackers when last reports came in. Most of
scared residents stayed indoors in the daytime. A forest official said a
herd of 22 elephants were moving in Athagarh forest range. The tusker
was separated from the herd and entered the residential area.

Forest range officer, Phulnakhara, Asit Mishra , who was present at the spot said, "We suspect the tusker strayed into the CDA area when it approached the Mahanadi river. We are trying to send back the tusker to the herd."

Experts said herd migrated to neighbouring forest in search of food and water.

Meanwhile, the district administration has asked the CDA residents to stay at home

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Tusker raids Tamil Nadu villages, brings other jumbos

COIMBATORE: At a time when the translocated tusker Vinayagan has
started to mingle with a wild herd in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, his
companion Chinna Thambi continues to raid villages at Thadagam Valley,
and often brings a herd along with him. “The tusker, Chinna Thambi,
continues to enter human habitations even after Vinayagan was
translocated. At times, he brings a herd along with him and raids crops,”
said a source in the forest department.

About two months ago, the tusker was found with a herd comprising four
male elephants. But a few days ago, he was found roaming with a herd
that included a female elephant and its calf, the source said, adding that
Tusker raids Tamil Nadu villages, brings other jumbos the tusker has been changing its herd.

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Scary jumbo tales from Munnar

George N Netto

Stories of encounters with wild elephants are as common in Munnar, Kerala’s picturesque tea-growing hub and tourist destination, as the tea bushes girdling it. For locals it’s an occupational hazard of sorts, with most having had at least one scary experience.

A truck driver transiting through the town took a nap on the outskirts one night and woke up to find a tusker mopping, quite incredibly, the condensation off his frosted windscreen with its trunk! Terrified, he cowered under the dashboard until the pachyderm moved on, having finished its task. Was it trying to get a clearer view of him? He still shudders at the thought.

Meeting an elephant unexpectedly at night on the hill resort’s narrow roads is often an ordeal — and, sometimes, a nightmare — for motorists. One hapless driver once found himself trapped on a deserted stretch with a jumbo right in front of him and another behind. In sheer desperation he sneaked out of his car and quickly clambered up the hillside to safety. From there he saw the pachyderms toy with the vehicle, leaving it badly dented.

Some daredevil motorcyclists have perfected the art of sneaking past an elephant when its back is turned — a risky manoeuvre that could backfire if a two-wheeler suddenly stalls. I've seen this happen a couple of times with the driver hastily grounding his bike and fleeing as the elephant headed towards him.

Then there was a local bus whose horn uncannily mimicked the brassy trumpeting of an elephant. The driver bragged that he could scare off any pachyderm with it. One night he encountered a tusker on a sharp curve and sounded the horn. Apparently mistaking it to be the challenge of a rival male, the jumbo advanced menacingly, stopping just a few feet short of the bus and its petrified human cargo before realising its mistake and backing off. The first thing the driver did on reaching Munnar was to replace the horn with an ‘elephant-friendly’ one.

Another night, two tourists on a motorcycle swept round a sharp bend to find a massive tusker sashaying on the side of the road. Braking, they waited at a respectful distance, hoping it would move into the adjacent eucalyptus plantation. When it didn’t budge for a long time, they decided that discretion was the better part of valour and turned back. Returning next morning, they were shocked to find the tusker still rooted there, looking as menacing as earlier. But they also noticed something that they hadn't the previous night: its rear legs were chained to a tree. It was a captive elephant brought there for logging work!

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JUMBO OPERATION TRAPS WILD ELEPHANT

Vinayagan, the tusker, was sent to Mudumalai
In an operation that lasted around nine hours, the Forest Department on Tuesday tranquillised and captured Vinayagan, the wild elephant which has been frequently entering human habitations in the Thadagam valley in Coimbatore.

The elephant, which has been tagged with GPS and a very high frequency transmitter, was to be translocated to a forest area of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), which is close to the Bandipur National Park and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, late on Tuesday.

The elephant was first spotted in the forest fringes at Mangarai near Anaikatti, around 20 km from Coimbatore city, in the early hours on Tuesday. The tusker travelled around 4 km and reached near human settlements at Periyathadagam around 6 a.m. when N.S. Manoharan, Regional Joint Director of Veterinary Services, darted the first dose of tranquilliser on the animal.

The animal further moved around 1 km towards a hill where the second round of tranquilliser was darted. With the elephant sedated, the Forest Department staff tied ropes around its legs and neck for loading on to the specially designed truck for transporting elephants.

Though the Forest Department employed two ‘kumkis’, namely Wasim and Vijay from MTR, to push and load Vinayagan to the truck, the gigantic tusker, weighing roughly 4.5 tonnes, stood firm at least for two hours. An earth mover was then used to pull the tusker onto the truck at 2.45 p.m. A third round of mild sedation was given for easy transportation of the animal to Mudumalai, around 150 km away from where it was captured.

Deepak Srivastava, Assistant Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, said that the Department had plans to capture and translocate Chinna Thambi, another wild elephant.

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