In less than a two month Arikomban, a wild tusker that created havoc in the Chinnakanal area of Idukki district in Kerala and translocated to Parambikulam over 150 km away, has been captured for the second time in Tamil Nadu’s Cumbum East Range in Theni district.
He was was safely tranquilised in the early hours of Monday by Forest Veterinary Surgeons and Forest Department officials.
The elephant is being translocated to a suitable habitat where the Tamil Nadu Forest Department will continue to monitor him.
Sources said that he will be let deep into the forests of the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in Tirunelveli district.
Informing the news, 1991 batch IAS officer Supriya Sahu tweeted, “Arikomban the wild tusker was safely tranquilised in early hours today in Cumbum East Range by a team of Forest Veterinary Surgeons and Forest Department officials.The elephant is being translocated to a suitable habitat where the Tamil Nadu Forest Department will continue to monitor him.”
Read This: Does ‘Arikomban’ Highlight Our Callousness Towards Wildlife?
Following the court order, on 3th April this year, Arikomban has been caught and transported to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Arikomban, the name earned by him for his fascination for raiding ration shops to steal rice, was tranquilised by a special task force. The Kerala High Court had ordered the capture, radio-collaring, and translocation of Arikomban.
Arikomban, a rogue wild tusker who has created havoc in Idukki district of Kerala since 2016. This issue, which over the past few months have led to numerous public debate and subsequent judicial intervention highlights the human-animal conflict in the hill district. Then, court ordered that he should captured and transported to another area.
However, environmentalists and a few senior rank IFS officers are not sure if it would solve the problem at hand.
Then, speaking with Indian Masterminds, Principal Chief Conservators of Forests (PCCF) and Special Officer of Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Ms. Prakriti Srivastava said, “We will keep our fingers crossed that the order will be a real solution.”
“Our sustainable development model which focuses on conserving wildlife, has unfortunately failed here,” rues Ms. Srivastava.
Earlier on May 29, officials had tried to capture Arikomban for a second time. Personnel from the Tamil Nadu forest department and police force took along three kumki elephants as a part of their mission.
THE CONFLICT
In Chinnakanal, Kerala, almost every other person has a story of a near escape from a rampaging jumbo.
It all started in 2002-03 when the Government decided that land in Chinnakanal Valley will be given to landless tribals. The issue of assignment of land (276 ha) in Chinnakanal to 559 families was as per a cabinet decision.
Incidentally, Ms Prakriti Srivastava was then posted as DFO Munnar and she objected to the decision.
She said, “When the order came, I objected that it should not be given because it is an elephant territory/corridor. I told them that problems would arise later.”
She explains that the Chinnakanal area has been historically called an unreserved area, which means that it was supposed to be a forest area that needed to be notified.
Instead of notifying it as a reserved forest, the government allotted this elephant territory to the people. Within a year of people starting to live in the forested area, the problem of the man-animal conflict started.
The Arikomban issue is as recent as 2016.
The reason behind this is very simple, because, it was their traditional path. And it is in the genes of gentle giants that they never forget their traditional path and home. It is called ‘homing instinct’. Elephant memories span decades and are passed down to future generations, the officer explains. “It’s like they have some kind of GPS, which always guide them to their traditional path.”
Ms. Prakriti said, “It is by default in their genes. The herd takes the same route and travel generation after generation on it and that is what is called the elephant corridor.
So now when you are obstructing those paths, then there are bound to be conflicts. This is what all the policymakers have to realize that these are traditional paths, so we should keep them unblocked. So that, elephants can move without any obstructions.”
The officer points out: “If it is in their genes that they do not change their traditional path and we take that away then whose fault is it? That is when these elephants run amok and we bear the loss.”
She feared Arikomban might try to reach Chinnakanal again within six months of his translocation. She gave the example of Karnataka’s Hassan, where such kind of cases has already happened.
And now exactly that is happening.
Read This: Does ‘Arikomban’ Highlight Our Callousness Towards Wildlife?
