Rogue elephant darted at Palakkad in Kerala; People heave a sigh of relief

People of Dhoni village close to the forest areas of Palakkad district in Kerala heaved a sigh of relief on Sunday as a wild elephant that killed one person and caused extensive damages to crops was darted by the forest department in a hectic operation.

Code named as Palakkad Tusker-7 (PT-7), efforts to dart the elephant was going on over the last couple of weeks after protest by people mounted. An effort to tranquilize the tusker on Saturday failed owing to uneven terrain of the forest area where it was spotted. On Sunday a 75-member team led by chief veterinary surgeon Dr. Arun Zachariah ventured into the forest and darted it.

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A jubilant mood prevailed in the locality after the elephant was darted. While local administration minister M B Rajesh honoured the forest officials who led the darting, Forest minister A K Saseendran renamed the tusker as Dhoni citing that the elephant made the place popular.

PT-7 had killed a local native Sivaraman in July 2022. It used to frequently enter human settlements and cause damage to crops. Many people had narrow escapes from the elephant's attack and some had also suffered injuries during the bid to escape from its attack. As the threat from the tusker escalated the people demanded that it should be darted.

Dr. Zacahriah said that the darting involved a major risk as some other wild elephants were also seen accompanying PT-7. Once it was alone it was tranquilised.

The tusker was shifted to the forest camp in a lorry with the help of two trained captive elephants, known as Kumki. The tusker was blindfolded and chained. Booster doses given in between until it was caged. A special cage using wooden logs was made. The tusker would be tamed using Kumki elephants.

Wayanad district in Kerala also witnessed a similar operation earlier this month. A wild elephant, named Pandular Makhna-2 (PM2), was darted at Kuppadi forest areas of Wayanad after it entered Sulthan Batherry town. The elephant had earlier killed two persons at Gudalur in Tamil Nadu. A tiger was also tranquilised in Wayanad this month after a farmer was killed following tiger's attack.