Coimbatore : After a long walk of 140 kms since venturing out of the reserve three days ago,Chinnathambi’s longest outing in patta land could well end tomorrow as Forest Department is making all necessary moves to capture the animal again.
Coimbatore : After a long walk of 140 kms since venturing out of the reserve three days ago, Chinnathambi’s longest outing in patta land could well end tomorrow as Forest Department is making all necessary moves to capture the animal again.
Chinnathambi, continues to move in human dominated terrain and was currently near Madathukulam in Udumalpet, which is 20 kms away from the reserve.
He took a short nap near the Madathukulam Railway Station around noon and woke up by evening to continue his long walk.
Sources claim that since it is not easy to drive the animal back to the reserve, foresters have decided to tranquilize the animal, capture him with the help of Kumkis and bring him into captivity.
The decision to capture the animal was announced on Saturday morning by Minister of Forests Dindigul C. Sreenivasan in Coimbatore.
Elephant expert Ajay Desai has also commented that the decision would be inevitable as the elephant was moving too much into human settlements, which was dangerous for both man and elephant.
Meanwhile, a team from Coimbatore that had followed Chinnathambi here had gone to Udumalpet to drive the animal.
Two Kumkis Kalim and Mariyappan from the Anamalai Tiger Reserve have been called in for capturing Chinnathambi. While Kalim has arrived at the spot, Mariyappan was on the way from the Kozhikamuthi Kumki elephants camp.
The operation is excepted to begin early morning tomorrow involving senior veterinary officers working with the forest department.
Meanwhile, activists in Coimbatore protested against the capture of Chinnathambi and staged a demonstration near the South Taluk Office on Saturday.
Youths from Thadagam, Mankarai and Anaikatti who gathered at the protest demanded that Chinnathambi should be released back in Thadagam from where he was captured.
They also said that a PIL would be filed against the department regarding the issue.
“The main reason for conflict is not Chinnathambi, but the large scale mining that is taking place in Thadagam. This should be stopped immediately to allow elephants to move freely inside the reserve,” said Joshua, an activist from Anaikatti.
People also claimed that the Chinnathambi was an elephant who meant no harm for the people of the area.