Jumbo Karuppan retreats after attacking cow

COIMBATORE: On day two of ‘Operation Black’ to capture wild elephant ‘Karuppan,’ the animal on Friday retrieved swiftly into the jungle after attacking a cow, when it was cornered by the Forest department staff in Sathyamangalam in Erode district.

The problematic elephant moved over from Jerahalli forest range at Hasanur division to Thalavadi Range. It was tracked at Eripuram on Thursday, 9 pm.

In a swift action, a large team of the Forest department, including elephant trackers, veterinarians and staff from Thalavadi, Jerahalli and Thalamalai forest ranges rushed to Eripuram to commence the capturing operation. “The elephant was tracked closely till 5.30 am. As it was decided to capture it, the elephant turned furious and began to charge at the veterinarians who marched ahead to sedate the animal. The elephant then retreated into Thalavadi forest range from ‘Malkothipuram Thotti’ area before attacking a cow,” said an official. Subsequently, two teams of the Forest department were sent into the forest area to closely monitor the movement of the elephant. Also, staff was deployed in areas, where the animal is habituated to come out of the forest cover.

“In all probability, it has been decided to capture Karuppan on Saturday early morning hours. Besides using drones to track the elephant, three kumkis brought from Top Slip were also deployed in the operation,” the official said.

It was decided to capture Karuppan as efforts by the Forest department to prevent the animal from frequenting farms in villages in Thalavadi range to raid crops turned futile. It had also attacked two farmers to death.