Nilgiris : In less than six months, the radio collar that was fitted around tusker Vinayagan while he was being translocated from Coimbatore is said to be missing. The tusker is reportedly moving around without a collar in the Nilgiris Reserve, here.
Nilgiris : In less than six months, the radio collar that was fitted around tusker Vinayagan while he was being translocated from Coimbatore is said to be missing. The tusker is reportedly moving around without a collar in the Nilgiris Reserve, here.
The elephant was fitted with a radio collar in December when it was captured and was then released into the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. It has since been roaming in the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border forest region. Though the animal was found to be following the same crop-raiding behavior in this area as it had previously in Coimbatore, the frequency of the crop raids has reportedly reduced since the Nilgiris forest region is larger when compared to the fragmented Coimbatore Forest Division.
While forest officials had stopped monitoring the animal since it was not creating much trouble, the radio collar that was connected to a high frequency transmitter and GPS tracker, which had been tied around Vinayagan’s neck has reportedly fallen off the tusker's neck. It is learned that the collar had been detached about 12 days ago since the elephant had probably lost weight. “The animal was in his prime when he was caught and was expected to reduce weight after release. It started shredding some fat as expected and invariably the radio collar has also loosened, resulting in its detachment,” said a source.
Meanwhile, the animal is being monitored by a team of forest officials.