Coimbatore : As many as 500 farmers from the Tamil Nadu Non-Political, Non-Religious, Non-Casteist Farmers Association of Tamil Nadu are to meet the Ravi Kant Upadhyay, The Chief Wildlife Warden and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Tamil Nadu in person and stress for the capture of two male problem elephants from the Thadagam Valley tomorrow.
Coimbatore : As many as 500 farmers from the Tamil Nadu Non-Political, Non-Religious, Non-Casteist Farmers Association of Tamil Nadu are to meet the Ravi Kant Upadhyay, The Chief Wildlife Warden and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Tamil Nadu in person and stress for the capture of two male problem elephants from the Thadagam Valley tomorrow.
According to members of the association, they would be handing over a formal petition in this regard to The Chief Wildlife Warden at his office in Chennai.
“We have tried reasoning with the local officials to try and manage the Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) in the region. But the elephants continue to raid our crops and no concrete actions have been taken by division officials,” said a member.
He further added that the department has not tried to capture the elephants despite the Chief Wildlife Warden giving an order to capture both the elephants.
The orders reached the office of the Chief Conservator of Forests of Coimbatore Circle a few days before District Collector wrote to the Chief Wildlife Warden regarding the issue. The Collector had requested the capture and translocation of both the elephants from Thadagam to Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
He also wrote to the Shambhu Kallolikar, Secretary to the State Government from the department of Forest and Climate Change last week emphasising on the same request.
Officials on the other hand have been approaching the issue carefully considering the risks involved. They have been using Kumki elephants and field staff to guide the elephants to other areas.
Subsequently, Vinayakan, one of the problem elephant had moved towards Mettupalayam, whereas, Chinnathambi, another problem elephant, is said to be roaming in the Thadagam valley.