After killing five, rogue elephant 'mellows down' at Gonikoppa camp

 The rogue elephant which had claimed five lives and was captured by the Forest department has been kept inside a kraal at the Mathigodu elephant camp near here.

The tusker had scared people in K Gudi and Biligiri Ranganabetta in Chamarajanagar district as it had killed five people. It was a challenging time for the department as officials and tamed elephants braved the odds to capture it a few days ago. The kraal where the jumbo has been kept has a dimension 8X10 feet. “If the kraal is big, elephants have freedom to move about, do not listen to our commands and their anger does not subside. Also, it is difficult to tame them in such an enclosure,” said mahouts Vasanth and Ravi.

The 20-year-old mahouts are engaged in taming the rogue elephant inside the kraal. When the elephant was captured in Chamarajanagar on November 10 and was shifted to the camp for taming, it was scaring away all those who went near the kraal. With the help of tamed elephants, the mahouts started offering the rogue elephant grass, jaggery and water. It looks like the elephant has mellowed down after one week in the kraal, said Vasanth.

The elephant has injured its face and forehead as it hit them against the wooden logs of the kraal. The injuries are being treated by applying neem oil on them. Both mahouts sleep near the kraal itself.

Hunsur wildlife division medical officer Umashankar said this was one of the heaviest elephant captured in the recent past. The right tusk of the elephant is cut and mahouts suspect that it must have broken during a scuffle with other elephants.