TN forest dept deploys 2 kumki elephants to trap wild tusker in Erode

The Tamil Nadu forest department has deployed a team of officials along with two ‘kumki’ elephants to trap and capture a rogue wild tusker — ‘Karuppan’ — which has destroyed people’s properties in Thalavadi, Hasanur and Jeerahalli areas of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Erode district. ‘Kumki’ or ‘koomkie’ is a term used for trained captive Asian elephants used in operations to trap wild tuskers. The forest department has deployed two kumki elephants — ‘Bomman’ and ‘Sujay’ — to monitor the movement of the wild tusker. It had made two attempts earlier to capture Karuppan and had even fired tranquiliser darts at him but the tusker escaped into the dense forests of the tiger reserve. However, the tusker has again started invading people’s localities, destroying properties and crops. The crops that are about to be harvested, including sugarcane and paddy, have been destroyed by the elephant and complaints have been lodged with the forest department by the villagers. While local people have alleged that Karuppan was involved in killing humans also, the forest department has not confirmed it.