Coimbatore: Chinna thambi captured again

Coimbatore: The famous wild tusker Chinna thambi was captured again after darting on Friday and relocated to the Varagaliyar elephant camp where it will undergo a couple of months training with the help of a mahout and released along with tamed elephants in Kozhikamuthi near Top Slip.

According to Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) field director, V. Ganesan, arrangements were kept ready to dart Chinna thambi on Thursday evening. However, the elephant remained inside sugarcane fields without giving a chance for darting.

Efforts made by forest staff to enter the swampy sugarcane fields by sitting on top of kumkis to dart Chinna thambi failed as the kumkis refused to enter the slushy terrain. The elephant walked out only on Friday morning.

The first shot by veterinarian Dr Ashokan with a combination of ketamine zylozine was around 7.15 am, but missed. The second shot was by former ranger Thanga Raj Paneerselvam and successfully made on the leg of Chinna thambi. The latter ran inside the sugarcane field and hid himself once again. The third shot also missed but the fourth shot succeeded.

With the help of two kumkis, Chinna thambi was loaded into a specially designed forest department truck that was brought from Waynad in neighboring Kerala. Under the supervision of rangers Murugesan and Dhanabal along with 200 forest staff and police guided by ATR field director V. Ganesan and Tirupur DFO Dileep, the operation was successfully executed.

Chinna thambi has started its journey towards the elephant camp in Varagaliyar, where it will be kept in the krawl and will undergo a couple of months training. Later on it will be freed in the Kozhikamuthi tamed elephant camp in ATR as there are no plans now of making it a kumki as submitted to the Madras High court, added the official.