Kochi: Aimed at ensuring safety of pilgrims trekking through traditional forest route to Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, the Forest personnel have been armed with ‘pump action gun’ to scare off wildlife without inflicting life threatening injuries. “The weapon using the latest technology is mainly to scare away wild elephants. The catridges will get loaded upon pulling forward or backward. Numerous pellets can be included in a single cartridge. Upon firing, it hits the animal but won’t cause any deep wounds. It will scare away the animal,” said a senior forest officer.
Currently in emergency situations, the chances of elephants getting serious injuries during firing by the personnel are high. “Even if we fire drug-laced pellets, it will take at least 15 minutes to tranquilize elephants. They will be extremely violent during this period and attack the pilgrims. Use of pump action gun can avoid all these situations,” he said. Currently four elephant squads are working round the clock to ensure safety of pilgrims during the three-month long Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. Wild elephants are increasingly spotted at Nilackkal-Uppupara regions.
