Coimbatore: The forest department is all set to radio collar the wild tusker that is nicknamed Baahubali, which has been roaming close to the human habitats in the Mettupalayam forest range.Forest officials have brought three kumkis – 56-year-old Kaleem, 37-year-old Mariappan and 33-year-old Venkatesh – from the Anamalai Tiger Reserve to Mettupalayam to assist them in the process.
The plan is to dart the tusker with sedatives on Sunday to fix the radio collar.All the three kumkis were brought to Mettupalam from the Anamalai Tiger Reserve separately, starting Tuesday, and are stationed at the forest timber depot on Kotagiri Road.The radio collaring operation is codenamed as MP20T1.
A Sukumar, forest veterinary officer, Coimbatore forest division; K Rajesh Kumar, veterinary assistant surgeon, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR); E Vijayaragavan, veterinary officer, animal husbandry department; and N S Manoharan, retired regional joint director, veterinary services, are part of the operation.D Venkatesh, district forest officer, said the frontline staff from Mettupalayam and Sirumugai were deployed in the reserve forest to closely monitor the tusker’s movement.
“After the arrival of kumkis, the tusker has not come out of the deep forest for the past three days.
Our teams are ready to dart the animal with tranquilizers as and when it comes out to a place that is suitable for operation.”The forest department is radio collaring the elephants that frequently stray into the human habitats in the Mettupalayam forest range to study their habitats and migratory paths, and prevent man-elephant conflicts.Chief wildlife warden had earlier issued the order to radio collar Baahubali for the study purposes.
It’s the World Wildlife Fund that provides the forest department with radio collars.The radio collar would help study the movement of elephants in their habitats, how far they venture out of the habitats, how far they travel to raid agricultural fields, and how far they migrate a year.
With the help of the device, the forest department could also trace the migratory route of the elephants and obstacles on the path, if any.