Rehabilitated jumbo Rivaldo walks free into MTR

Chennai

“This is for the first time in Tamil Nadu that an elephant under captivity has been rehabilitated and released back into the wild. Rivaldo was radio collared to monitor its movement by a dedicated team. Also, a control room has been set up in Theppakadu to track and ensure that the elephant does not come back near human habitations,” said Supriya Sahu, Principal Secretary (Environment and Forests) to media.

“The release of injured Rivaldo after rehabilitation is a 12 hours (full night to morning) operation from Sunday to Monday. Senior ecologists, veterinarians, foresters and drone technologists were roped in for the release,” state chief wildlife warden Shekhar Kumar Niraj, who was the monitoring officer of the rehabilitation programme told DT Next.

Sahu, who camped in Mudumalai, complimented the team members on their maiden attempt in rehabilitating an injured wild elephant. On the recommendations of the expert committee, the elephant has been released safely into the core area of the forest near Chikkala with no human habitations nearby. Over the years, the wild elephant had learnt to co-exist with people and was into the habit of accepting food given by tourists.

“The locality, where Rivaldo has been released has natural water source and abundant vegetation for the elephant to forage. The animal is healthy, playful and seems fine, eating on his own and moving around normally in the core forest area,” said Field Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve KK Kaushal.

Rivaldo, who is close to 40 years lost a part of its trunk in an accident a decade back and was forced to depend on feeding by tourists which threatened the elephant’s health and also the villagers.

The Forest Department lured Rivaldo into a kraal in ‘Vazhaithottam’ area on May 5 by offering its preferred delicacies like sugarcane and fruits without administering sedation to treat its trunk injury. It was a dicey situation for the foresters on whether to convert Rivaldo into a captive elephant or to facilitate the release of the animal back into the wild.

Keeping the animal under captivity however attracted widespread criticism from wild life activists, including BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, resulting in formation of an expert committee to decide on its release.