Krishnagiri: A massive operation to tranquilize a wild elephant for relocation in this district was temporarily withdrawn on Friday evening due to unfavorable wind condition.
Over 100 forest staff, four veterinary doctors and two kumkis were involved in the operation to dart the wild tusker named ‘Crow bar’. The wild animal has so far killed five people in a year. Four in Krishnagiri district and a fresh case was reported in the neighboring Karnataka.
The operation started in the morning with puja to the ‘Vana Devathi (forest angel)’ by the kumki team headed by K. Manivel and A. Manikandan, mahouts for the kumkis Bharani and Mariappan, respectively.
The tamed elephants were transported to the Moranapalli village, near Hosur, where the forest staffers have rounded up the wild elephant found with another tusker, when the animals were heading towards the south Pennar River after raiding crops.
A team of veterinary doctors A. Prakash, N.S. Manoharan, Kalaivanan and Arun Shah of Karnataka entered the forest with the darting guns. Three darts were fired but the shots missed injecting the animal due to the strong winds.
Later, the team followed the tusker which need to be tranquilized and tried sedating the elephant at the place near Gobachandaram. After repeated attempts the operation failed and was withdrawn temporarily. The darting operation will resume again on Saturday.
