A wild tusker from the Karnataka forest entered the human habitation, trampled crops, and damaged a scooter on Wednesday.
Published Oct 11, 2023 | 6:07 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 11, 2023 | 6:07 PM
The elephant that strayed into Ulikkal. (Supplied)
Almost a year after wild jumbo Pandalur Makhna 2 (PM2) strayed into the Bathery Town in Kerala’s Wayanad from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu and wreaked havoc, another wild tusker that lost its way from a Karnataka forest kept Ulikkal town in the high reaches of Kannur district in Kerala on tenterhooks on Wednesday, 11 October.
Residents of Ulikkal were aware of the jumbo-sized problem on Tuesday night itself. The elephant was spotted near the Latin Church in the town, located near the Hill Highway on Wednesday morning.
The unsettled jumbo trudged through woody plots in the human habitats of Ulikkal, spreading panic among the residents. With the disquiet spreading in the region, officials ordered the closure of schools in Ulikkal and the nearby Vayathur region.
“The jumbo rampaged all the cultivation on the plots in Ulikkal and damaged a scooter parked near the Latin Church. Six people, fleeing from the jumbo, fell and suffered injuries. One of them suffered grievous injuries on his head and legs, and he will be shifted from the local private hospital to a better hospital in Kannur,” Aysha Ibrahim, ward member of Ullikkal West, told South First.
According to the police, this was the first time that a wild elephant had entered Ullikkal.
However, the nearby areas like Iritty are wild jumbo-affected, and elephants often stray into the tribal settlements near Aaralam farm spread across 7,500 acres. Around six months ago, a person had died at Perinkari near Ulikkal in an elephant attack, the police said.
PT-7 after it was tranquilized. (Supplied)
“The Iritty and Aralam regions are located south and south-east of Ullikkal. The new tusker arrived from the Karnataka forest region lying on the north-east side of Ulikkal. It travelled nearly four kilometres away from Karnataka forest through Vayathur and is trying to return,” said Ratheeshan P, Thaliparamba forest range officer.
The Forest Department’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) is in Ulikkal, trying to drive the elephant back into the woods.
Ratheeshan said that at around 2 pm, the jumbo stayed put at a vast cashew farm near Vayathur. An operation to chase it back by bursting firecrackers has been called off after the animal was found showing signs of weakness. He said that the jumbo was just one-and-a-half kilometres from the Karnataka forests bordering Kerala.
“We will resume the drive at an appropriate time and the jumbo is expected to be back in the Karnataka forest by tonight,” the range officer said.
MLA Sajeev Joseph of Irikkur said that there is no plan to tranquilise the animal, even though it was sighted at a residential area in Ulikkal with a highway and buzzing market nearby. “There is a possibility of the jumbo running amok after receiving the tranquiliser shot and it would aggravate the situation,” the lawmaker said.
As many as three wild jumbos which put the lives and property of people in three different districts in Kerala were tranquilised, captured with the help of kumki elephants of the Forest Department, and translocated on trucks either to the department’s rehab centres or in another forest since January this year.
Arikomban before being captured from Chinnakanal in Idukki. (Jomon Pampavalley)
The first was PM2 which was captured from Bathery town and is currently kept in a kraal at Muthanga in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. The other jumbo to be captured and caged was Palakkad Tusker 7 (PT 7) which frequently destroyed the human habitats at Dhoni in Palakkad district.
Further in the Idukki district, the wild tusker Arikomban, which had been at the centre of human-animal conflict in the Chinnakanal region for the past decade, was tranquilised and relocated to Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Idukki bordering Kerala and Tamil Nadu in April.
However, the jumbo later strayed away from PTR and entered Theni town in Tamil Nadu which prompted the forest officials of that state to translocate the tusker to Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve spread across three districts in Tamil Nadu, Theni, Virudhunagar and Madurai.
