Four jumbos translocated after radio collaring

The Forest department has fixed radio collars to four elephants, three female jumbos and a tusker, and translocated them.

The department personnel, led by Deputy Conservator of Forest Basavaraju, spotted a herd of five elephants, camping in coffee plantations at Lingapura, Udevara and surrounding villages, on the borders of Sakleshpur and Belur taluks. By evening, the department personnel darted a female elephant that was leading the herd.

The team, including Dasara elephants Abhimanyu and Gopalaswamy, struggled for more than an hour to capture the jumbo, which moved around four km, after getting darted.

The jumbo was finally tranquilised on a farm belonging to Mallesh Gowda, when it was fixed with a radio collar. The process was risky, as it was done amidst other elephants of the herd.

Basavaraju said that to find a temporary solution to the jumbo menace, the department got permission to fix radio collars to three female and a male elephant, that were creating panic in the region, and to translocate them.

The department had made all arrangements to complete it between January 21 and 27, and has been successful in completing the operation, with the female jumbo radio collared on Wednesday. It may be mentioned that a rogue tusker was captured and radio collared on Tuesday.

The combing was conducted with the help of four male elephants from Mattigodu elephant camp and two from Dubare camp.