Chennai, May 28 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu Special task force is tracking the rogue elephant ‘Arikombana’ that created havoc in Cumbum town in Theni district of the state.
The elephant went rogue on Saturday. Presently the elephant has moved to the forest fringe areas and the special team with darting experts and veterinarians are trying to locate the elephant.
The Tamil Nadu forest department had issued a statement on Saturday that it would dart the elephant and then relocate it to deep forest.
The elephant is already radio collared after it was relocated from the Chinnakanal area in Idukki district of Kerala on April 29 after the animal had killed 11 people and destroyed more than 300 homes and ration shops.
The elephant, nicknamed ‘Arikomban’ for his forays into ration shops of Chinnakanal and Idukki area for his fondness of rice (in Malayalam rice is called ‘Ari’ and ‘Komban’ means tusker) has been relocated into the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) around 100 km from the Chinnakanal.
The elephant had forayed from the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala to the Tamil Nadu area and on Saturday it reached the densely populated Cumbum town. It destroyed two auto-rickshaws and three people were injured when they fell down while running away from the elephant.
–IANS
aal/dpb
