Kerala: Expert panel suggests translocating tusker Arikkomban to Parambikulam tiger reserve

A Kerala high-court-appointed expert committee tasked with deciding the fate of the rice-eating tusker 'Arikkomban' on Wednesday suggested in the court that the elephant be translocated to the Parambikulam tiger reserve in Palakkad district of the state.

The suggestion was made in a report filed in the high court by the committee after it visited, on Monday, several areas of Idukki district that have been affected by the activities of the tusker and heard the grievances of the locals.

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Senior advocate Ramesh Babu, who is the amicus curiae in the matter and the convener of the five-member committee, said that the court was of the view that the actual date and time of capture of the elephant be decided by the veterinary doctors concerned as the tusker is in 'Musth' (intoxicated).

The court, during the hearing, also said that it would be constituting local-level task forces in all the affected grama panchayats bordering the famous hill station of Munnar in Idukki district so that any such issues in future can be dealt with quickly.

The detailed order is not yet available.

The court was hearing a PIL by two animal rights groups -- People for Animals (PFA), Trivandum Chapter and the Walking Eye Foundation for Animal Advocacy. In their plea, filed through advocates Bhanu Thilak and Prasanth S R, the petitioners have claimed that the order to tranquilise and capture the tusker was "illegal and unscientific".

It was on their plea that the court on March 23 in a late night sitting stayed the government decision to capture the tusker. On March 29, the court had extended the stay till April 5 and constituted an expert committee to decide whether the elephant should be captured and kept in captivity to be trained as a kumki elephant or relocated to some other forest.

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The panel in its report favoured translocating of the tusker to Parambikulam tiger reserve in Palakkad and not its capture for being trained as a kumki elephant, the amicus said.

Kumki elephants are captive pachyderms trained for use in trapping and capturing wild elephants. The court said it will pass orders after considering the suggestions in the report, the senior advocate said. The committee was also of the view that the anxieties and apprehensions of the locals are genuine, he said.