Bathery: The wild elephant, codenamed PM-2, that had entered Bathery town last week was tranquilised by the Forest Department taskforce on Monday. The efforts to seize the tuskless male elephant before transporting it to a kraal are now underway.
The elephant Pandalur Makhna (PM-2) was sighted by the taskforce on Monday morning soon after the operations resumed after Sunday's disappointing outing to dart it.
The Forest department had commenced the bid to dart and capture PM-2 on Sunday morning a day after an order in this regard was issued by the Chief Wildlife Warden following protests by the public. However, the attempt failed on Day-1. Even though the Rapid Response Team (RRT) reached near the elephant, the tranquilising shot could not be fired.
The task force said the main challenges were the presence of a second elephant that stationed itself near PM-2 and the quick movements of PM-2.
PM-2 also charged at the task force. The mission was called off by the evening.
As per the order issued by the Kerala Chief Wildlife Warden, PM2 is to be relocated to the elephant kraal at Bathery after it has been captured.
PM2 had killed a person and injured two when it raided a house in Tamil Nadu’s Gudalur last November, forcing the Tamil Nadu Chief Wildlife Warden to issue an order to tranquilise and relocate it. PM2 was released to Mudumalai Tiger Reserve on December 8. Before releasing elephants to the forests, a tracking satellite caller was attached to its neck belt, wildlife conservation experts said.
Though it is programmed to collect data on the location of the elephant every 15 minutes, this device transmits information only once an hour.
Many areas in the forests of Wayanad do not fall under the coverage of the Iridium satellite and hence it is difficult to trace PM-2.
An order of the Chief Wildlife Warden is necessary to immobilise a wild elephant chemically with darting equipment.
Earlier, Kerala Forest Minister AK Saseendran had sought an explanation from the warden for the delay in issuing the order to tranquilise the elephant.
