Kerala: Elephant that wreaked havoc in Wayanad’s Sulthan Bathery captured

Last week, Wayanad district administration had clamped prohibitory orders on several areas of Sulthan Bathery after the elephant (code named PM-2) camped near the town

Forest authorities on Monday tranquilised the elephant that had allegedly sneaked into Sulthan Bathery town in Kerala’s Wayanad and attacked a person last week.

The tusker was earlier captured by the Tamil Nadu forest department last year. (File image)

The task force of the forest department shifted the animal to an elephant training camp.

The chief veterinary officer and darting expert Arun Zachariah was injured while administering an injection to the captured animal.

He was later shifted to hospital to treat his injuries.

Code-named PM-2 the radio-collared jumbo was sighted by the task force and darted after finding a suitable location, said state forest minister AK Saseendran.

The 20-year-old tusker was earlier captured by the Tamil Nadu forest department after it reportedly killed two persons and attacked several houses in Gudalur area in Tamil Nadu and surrounding places last year.

It was also known as “arasi raja” in Tamil Nadu as it was fond of rice.

It was released in the wild after radio-collaring it but it somehow sneaked into Wayanad and entered Sulthan Bathery town and allegedly wreaked havoc.

“It was a cumbersome operation which was concluded successfully. Though we spotted the elephant on Sunday, we could not fire tranquilliser as another jumbo was in the area. Though it charged towards task force members on several occasions we followed it and darted and shifted it to the training camp in Muthanga (Wayanad)”, said Wayanad DFO A Shajna.

She said training session of the elephant will start after a couple of days.

Last week, Wayanad district administration had clamped prohibitory orders on several areas of Sulthan Bathery after the PM-2 camped near the town.