Thiruvananthapuram: As human-animal conflict continues to affect life in human settlements along the forest fringes in the state, official records revealed the Kerala government spent Rs 33 lakh to capture wild tuskers Arikomban and Dhoni (PT7).
A total of Rs 15.85 lakh was spent on translocating Arikomban from Chinnakanal to Periyar tiger reserve. Nearly Rs 4 lakh was spent for constructing a cage for Arikomban.
The aforesaid was revealed in an RTI reply to the activist group Proper Channel.
Records showed forest department raised Rs 87,000 to maintain the radio collar strapped on the elephant.
Meanwhile, the government disbursed Rs 17.32 lakh for capturing and relocating PT7 (aka Dhoni) to an elephant camp.
Out of this Rs 2.74 lakh was spent on cage construction and Rs 2.44 lakh on tranquilising and translocating the tusker.
At the same time, the amount spent for rearing the elephant is not included in the data.
A 75-member task force of the forest department captured Dhoni on January 22 from Palakkad after it continued to 'unleash terror' in residential areas.
Arikomban was captured and translocated to the Periyar wildlife sanctuary on April 29. However, the elephant kept traversing the reserve and entered forests in Tamil Nadu within a few days. Subsequently, the Tamil Nadu forest department shifted the animal to the Mundanthurai tiger reserve.
