Wounded 8-year-old male elephant still at large in the Senkuli forest area in Coimbatore district

Coimbatore: An 8-year-old male elephant with a wound in its mouth had been spotted roaming around the Senkuli forest area of Anaikatti in Coimbatore along the river banks, but had disappeared back into the forest on August 15. Forest Department officials have been trying to rescue the injured wild elephant by roping in two Kumki elephants, Kalim and Muthu (Arisiraja) from the Topslip elephant camp. The two Kumki elephants were kept in the forest for the last 14 days.

Muthu, one of the Kumki elephants had then begun to behave in a deranged manner and had not been disobeying the orders of Bagan Kavadi and destroyed two trees. The Kumki elephant was then transported back to the Pollachi Topslip elephant camp in a forest truck.

Muthu Kumki was earlier known as Arisiraja, a wild elephant that killed seven people in Pollachi. The wild elephant had been transformed by Kalim Kumki into Muthu Kumki