Special radio collar for ‘rogue elephant’

While ordering the translocation of the elephant last month, the Kerala high court had directed the state forest department to appoint a nodal officer to monitor the animal once it is fitted with the collar.

Thiruvananthapuram

In March, the high court had stayed the forest department’s order to make Arikomban a ‘kumki’ (trainer) elephant after the intervention of animal activists and appointed an expert committee. (HT)

As uncertainty over finding a suitable location for Idukki’s rogue elephant named ‘Arikomban’ continues, the state radio collar from Assam to be fitted on the animal reached the forest department’s office in Munnar, said a senior forest officer.

“The usual radio collars will not function in deep forest areas so the satellite collar provided by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was brought from Assam, courtesy of their forest department,” said the official.

The collar can transmit information directly without the help of mobile towers, he said, adding that this will make it easier for the forest officials to track the elephant’s travel route.

While ordering the translocation of the elephant last month, the Kerala high court had directed the state forest department to appoint a nodal officer to monitor the animal once it is fitted with the collar.

Last Monday, the Supreme Court had rejected the Kerala government’s plea questioning the relocation of Arikomban from Idukki to Parambikulam tiger reserve in Palakkad, refusing to interfere with the Kerala high court’s direction.

The state approached the apex court after many villages surrounding the tiger reserve opposed the high court-mandated relocation.

“In the prevailing situation we cannot take the elephant to Parambikulam forcibly. We are not giving the list of any new locations either. Let the expert committee choose a new site for its release,” said forest minister A K Saseendran adding the court orders and agitation of local people put the government in a quandary.

“We have to protect human lives and their properties but at the same time we have to protect our wildlife also. In many places space for a healthy co-existence is shrinking,” said the minister.

On Wednesday the division bench of the high court comprising of Justices Jayasankaran Nambiar and P Gopinath directed the state to consult experts and arrive at a decision before the next hearing on May 3.

The court had declined to review its order but gave the government about two weeks to come up with an alternate location.

As the government and court struggled to find a new habitat for “Arikomban” it continued its rogue behaviour, said local residents in Idukki adding it destroyed another house on Wednesday night, with many inhabitants escaping narrowly.

In March, the high court had stayed the forest department’s order to make Arikomban a ‘kumki’ (trainer) elephant after the intervention of animal activists and appointed an expert committee.

Following the expert panel report, the high court had ordered that the 40-year-old elephant be darted, radio-collared and translocated to Parambikulam tiger reserve.

MLA K Babu on Wednesday had started an indefinite fast outside the office of the wildlife warden of the tiger reserve, saying that the locals will create a ‘human chain’ to protest the translocation on April 24.