Four Elephants, Over 70 Forest Officers Hunt For Rice-Loving Wild Tusker, Arikomban In Kerala

The Kerala Forest Department has said that all preparations have been made to tranquilise and capture a rogue elephant wreaking havoc in the tea plantations around the tourist town of Munnar in the Idukki district.

A total of four specially trained Kumki elephants and over seventy Forest Department personnel have been deployed to track and capture the problematic tusker, who locals say is out of control now.

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Wild elephant that loves rice

The rogue elephant, which locals call Arikomban (rice tusker), has developed a taste for raw rice and has been ransacking shops and houses in and around Chinnakanal village.

According to locals, Arikomban has been raiding houses and ration shops in search of rice for many years, but it has become a daily affair in the past few months.

Has killed ten humans

The elephant, which is estimated to be around 35 years old, also has a history of trampling ten people to death and destroying about 60 houses and shops in the predominantly tea plantation area.

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Mock ration shop to lure Arikomban

Fed up with the recent spike in raids by Arikomban locals have been protesting, demanding its capture and relocation.

The state forest department has set up a 'Kraal' wooden structure where the captured elephant will be housed and is currently monitoring its movement.

Given its fondness for rice, the Forest Department has also set up a mock ration shop to lure the elephant.

Will be trained as kumki

According to the forest department, Arikomban will be darted on March 25 and then, with the help of the four kumki elephants, will be brought to the enclosure, where it will be housed.

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Once he is controlled, the plan is to take the elephant to the Kodanad rehabilitation centre, where it will be trained as a kumki.

This is the second major operation by the Kerala Forest Department this year to capture a rouge elephant that has become a threat to humans.

Capture of PT-7 aka Dhoni

In January, in what was said to be the largest of its kind operation till then, the Forest Department captured PT-7 (Palakkad tusker-7), an elephant that had been destroying crops in and around the Dhoni village of Palakkad for more than six months.

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PT-7, now officially named 'Dhoni', has also been blamed for killing one person in July 2022.

The elephant that the forest department captured is now lodged in the Muthanga elephant rehabilitation camp and undergoing stiff training to make him a kumki elephant in the future.

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