TN Forest Department To Resume Efforts To Capture 'Karuppan' Next Week

The Forest Department's special team was able to fire a tranquiliser injection at Karuppan on January 14. However, the elephant did not faint and escaped into the deep forest.

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Forest Department, which had undertaken frantic but fruitless efforts to capture wild tusker 'Karuppan', that had reportedly killed people and created havoc for residents of Hasanur, Thalavadi, and Jeerahali forest ranges, will resume the operation next week.

The Forest Department's special team was able to fire a tranquiliser injection at Karuppan on January 14. However, the elephant did not faint and escaped into the deep forest.

The special team again fired tranquilisers at the elephant. However still, the jumbo did not faint. Following this, Forest Department officials held a high-level meeting of special team members, Rapid Response Team members, veterinarians and others to bring a solution to the capture of the elephant.

According to a senior member of the Forest Department team, the team was planning to fire one more tranquiliser to capture the elephant but refrained following advice from animal health experts that the elephant's health could be affected.

"We are waiting for a week to resume operations as if we fire a tranquiliser again on the elephant, it may affect its physical health. Since the past few days, the elephant has not come to the main area and we are closely monitoring it," a senior officer, who is taking part in the operation, told IANS.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Forest Department on Sunday captured a wild tusker that was instrumental in the killing of a person and wreaking havoc at the residential areas in Palakkad district. The elephant, code-named 'PT7', is now in the kraal.

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)