Finally, rogue tusker captured near Gundlupet, sent to Dubare

Chamarajanagar: A rogue tusker from Tamil Nadu, which had strayed into villages on the periphery of Bandipur National Park in Chamarajanagar and attacked two people a couple of days ago, was captured by forest officials on Thursday.

The operation was carried out in a field in Padoor, Gundlupet with the help of tame elephants.

The captured tusker will be sent to the Dubare Elephant Camp in Kodagu as Tamil Nadu forest officials have not claimed it.

The same jumbo is believed to have trampled to death about eight persons around Coimbatore and was captured by Tamil Nadu forest officials before it was relocated to the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve neighbouring Bandipur, from where it has been straying into villages on its fringes.  The  tusker, which had evaded the search team, is suspected to have spent Wednesday at Parvathi Betta before it was sighted by farmers in a field in Padoor at around 7 am  Thursday morning.

On learning of its location, forest officials swung into action and at around 10.30 am tranquilised it with a dart in the field.

It was captured by 11.15 am with the help of tame elephants.  

Initially, Bandipur Park officials planned to send it to an elephant camp in Shivamogga but later  dropped the idea and the tusker was taken to Dubare.

“Travelling to Shivamogga would have exhausted the elephant due to the  long distance involved, but Dubare is closer to Bandipur,” said Conservator of Forests and Bandipur National Park director Balachandra.

Going by a wildlife conservationist the tusker was among three rogue elephants that were radio-collared in the region.