‘Forest Department should spend money on installing solar fence’
Kuppepalayam hamlet in Thondamuthur Panchayat on a
Sunday morning is unusually busy. At the village centre, in the shade
the residents have gathered around men in khaki, who sporting green caps
are busy distributing handbills. A little away from the people, remains
parked a green truck that says Tamil Nadu Forest Department. Opposite
the truck, chained to two huge tamarind trees that are at least 10 feet
from one another are two trained tuskers (kumkis). The entire space is
littered with coconut leaves and elephant waste.
The
Department’s watchers and other field staff are busy getting
ready for
the afternoon operation – to take the two elephants on a
terrain-familiarisation walk along the forest boundary. The village
abuts the Booluvampatty Forest Range.
Those
distributing the handbills and talking to the villagers are asking the
people to immediately alert the Department staff on the given phone
numbers if they spot wild elephants near the village boundary.
Forester
W.C. Pandiaraj, who supervises the operation on the ground, says that
at the instructions of his superiors Forest Range Office C. Dinesh Kumar
and District Forest Officer M. Senthilkumar, he has moved the two
trained elephants, Nanjan, 55, and Pari, 35, three days ago to
Kuppepalayam.
Mr. Dinesh Kumar says that the
objective is to walk and if necessary park the elephants along the
boundary so as to deter the lone forest elephant from entering the human
habitation.
The wild elephant – identified as a
tusk-less one (makhna) – has been entering Kuppepalayam, Vandikaranur,
Dhaliyur, Devarayapuram and a few other hamlets in search of food and
water. The elephant has also trampled to death an elderly woman,
Murugammal, in Selambanoor, a couple of days ago.
The Department took the decision to deploy the two kumki after the elephant attacked the woman, he adds.
After
the decision, the Department transported the elephants in lorries. It
also transported ragi, kollu (horse gram), rice, salt, jaggery and
liquefied petroleum gas cylinders to cook food for the elephants.
The
two have nine kg ragi, two kg kollu, two kg rice, 50 gm of salt and
jaggery for a session. They elephants have two feeding sessions and in
between those sessions they eat coconut leaves.
Mr.
Pandiaraj says the Department has used the additional building at the
Thondamuthur Panchayat Union Primary School for cooking the food for
elephants.
The caretakers – kavadi and mahout – after
unchaining the elephants are busy talking to them. One after the other,
the two lift their left fore legs to help the mahouts reach the top.
With
the kavadi (caretaker), a few villagers and enthusiastic villagers
trailing, the two elephants head to the boundary. The entourage is
greeted by barking dogs that stay at a safe distance.
After
the 20-km walk along the village boundary, the field staff will take
the elephants to the village centre for dinner and night halt. Only if
necessary – upon sighting the lone, male wild elephant, will they take
it to the boundary at night.
And, if the trained
elephants have to move around at night, they will have to have a sense
of the terrain, hence the familiarisation trips.
At
the village, the farmers are enthused but not satisfied at the steps
taken. The Forest Department will have to repair the solar fence and
also maintain the same as that has served as a good deterrent, says M.
Ramesh, a farmer.
V. Palanisamy, also a farmer, says
that the kumki operation will only provide temporary relief in that once
the lone, male elephant is chased away, the Department will relocate
the two kumkis to the Chadivayal Elephant Camp, making the village
vulnerable again to passing elephants.
The farmers
say that rather than compensating the farmers for the crop loss, the
Department shall do well to spend the money on a solar fence.
