Ooty: Masini, back home at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve from Samayapuram

Ooty: Masini, the temple elephant from Samayapuram which was sent there from the elephant camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in 2016, has returned to the MTR on Friday evening as per High Court directions.

Masini, now 12-years-old, was gifted to the Samayapuram temple in 2016. In August 2006, when it was barely a few days old, it was found abandoned and lying unconscious under a bridge near the Masini temple, a couple of kilometers away from the elephant camp in the Theppakadu region in MTR. Since Masini was only a few days old then, chances of her survival were in question. It was shifted to the elephant camp in MTR in August 2006 and raised there, scripting a success story of sorts.

The elephant again hit the headlines last May when it suddenly grew aggressive in the temple and trampled its mahout to death. 

After that, it was shifted to the veterinary college and research institute at Orathanadu in Thanjavur. When A.C.Rubin, a Chennai-based animal activist filed a case in the Madurai branch of the Madurai High Court in September last to shift Masini into MTR as behavioral changes were noticed in Masini which was struggling to acclimatise to the temple environs, the court ordered it be shifted to the MTR after necessary veterinary care.

When veterinarians gave the nod for its relocation recently, early on Friday morning, the animal began its journey back to the MTR from Samayapuram. It reached the elephant camp at MTR, its earlier home, on Friday evening.

Foresters said that the animal would be kept in an isolated chamber in the camp for a few days to observe its behavior and health.