‘Kumki’ elephant Bharani to begin 2nd operation in Hosur

KRISHNAGIRI: The ‘Kumki’ elephant Bharani was deployed for the second time in Hosur for the proposed operation to catch a wild tusker giving nightmare to the forest staffs and local villagers.

Earlier in February 2014, the tamed elephant came here to dart a wild jumbo that stayed inside the private truck manufacturing unit, near ‘SIPCOT-2’ on Chennai-Bengaluru national highway of Hosur in Krishnagiri.

The 35-year-old Bharani was born to tamed jumbos kept in the elephant camp at ‘Top Slip’ of Pollachi and he was trained by the master trainer and another ‘Kumki’ elephant Kalim.

So far Bharani has completed many missions conducted either to drive the wild jumbo herds back into the forest or tranquilizing the animals for relocation.

His ‘Kumki’ life started when he was too young and was liked by all because of his capacity to break any challenges of the wild elephants. He was also part of a team sent to Kerala state. The team consisted of three ‘Kumki’ elephants including Bharani, its trainer Kalim and another elephant Nanjan.

The team during the period when Kerala has no ‘Kumki’ squad have goaded a herd of crop-raiding elephants back into the forest in Walayar range in Palakkad district in that state.

“This is the second visit for our Bharani to Hosur. We have been told to be cautious when handling the wild tusker because of its killing nature. We are not scared. Our Bharani will break all challenges of the elephant in the forest” K. Manivel, 34, mahout for Bharani told DC.

Another ‘Kumki’ Mariyappan (32) is also part of the operation conducted to capture the wild tusker that has so far killed over five people in a year including a male belonging to neighbouring Karnataka.

Mariyappan has four records including two in Coimbatore (China Thambi operation) and Valparai. Dewaram in Theni and Mannarkadu of Kerala state were the other two places.