Kerala: Elephants' day out creates panic

Thrissur: Specially trained Kumki elephants would be used for directing  the three wild tuskers, including a  tusker calf,  back to their abode in Malampuzha forest in Palakkad. The wild tuskers had been creating panic since Monday morning at Mankurissi and Peringottukurisi regions.  On the same night,  they travelled nearly 20 km  through hillocks and crossed small streams flowing to Bharathapuzha river and reached Pambady, Thiruvilwamala and Kuthampully regions in Thrisur near the river on Tuesday morning.

Chelakkara MLA U.R. Pradeep told DC that Forest Minister K. Raju had intervened in the matter and ordered the  DFOs concerned to bring in Kumki elephants which could direct the tuskers back to the forests through the same path they reached Bharathapuzha. “Most probably, the Kumki elephants will reach the Kuthampully area on Tuesday night and to avoid the issue of crowd coming in the way of operations, IPC 144 will be declared,”  he added.

Meanwhile, animal lover and Heritage Animal Task Force secretary V.K. Venkitachalam told DC that the forest department officials were inefficient in turning  the elephants through their passages back to Malampuzha forest as soon as they entered the residential areas like Kalladikodu near the forest. “Instead of directing them back to the forest in the northern direction, the officials allowed the tuskers  to cross the Kozhikode-Palakkad highway on the southern side and they began their journey towards Bharatahapuzha. The police were  also inefficient in controlling the crowd that lit fire torches, blasted crackers and pelted stones at  the wild pachyderms by fully distracting the animals which prevented them from tracing back their passage back to the forest,” he added.