Arikomban Safe and Healthy: Active and Adapted to New Home (Image:twitter.com/supriyasahuias/status)
The wild tusker who created panic over the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, finds adapted to his new home at Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.
“Arikomban is healthy and has settled down well in his new home”, says the official statement by the Conservator of Forest and Field Director Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, released on Tuesday.
“The ground team is looking after the health and well being of the elephant since its release in KMTR about 75 days ago”, wrote Ms Supriya Sahu IAS quoting the press release on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday. She is the Additional Chief Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government in the Department of Environment, Climate Change, and Forests.
The Tiger Reserve is over 300 kilometres away from his home in Kerala”s Chinnakanal. The elephant was translocated twice, each by the governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
As per the Press release by the Conservator of Forests & Field Director Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, the wild tusker, “Arikomban” is healthy and has settled down well in his new home. The ground team is looking after the health and well being of the elephant since its… pic.twitter.com/lTccGYF6ml
— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) August 22, 2023
Arikomban (in Malayalam language) or Arishikomban (in Tamil language) – meaning “the rice tusker” – named for his raids on local shops for rice, was a local problem for the natives of Chinnakkanal in Kerala”s Idukki district. After a series of protests and suggestions by the court, Arikomban was translocated by the Kerala Government to the state”s border to Tamil Nadu on April 19. He was released in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the border.
The capturing, releasing, pleas filed by animal lovers forums in the courts, and protests by tribals and natives made Arikomban a recent nation-wide sensation.
But the elephant soon entered the inhabited areas of Cumbum in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu on 27 May. Theni is a valley area situated at the foothills of western ghats. It took Arikomban to travel around 85 kms from where he was released to reach the Cumbum-Theni valley.
On the same day, Paularaj, a sixty five year old Tamil man, fell from his motorbike, frightened to see Arikomban. He died in hospital after two days. According to the reports, the elephant strayed the area for two days destroying properties.
Following the incidents, the government of Tamil Nadu issued an order prohibiting people from stepping out to the public premises . “The elephant was in search of his whereabouts”, ANI then reported.
The Tamil Nadu government also initiated a rescue operation integrating various state forces. The team consisted of four vets and had 150 members, reported India Today. And decided to “translocate Arikomban deep inside the forest”, said Supriya Sahu in a statement. “Kumki’s”, trained captive elephants used to trap wild elephants, “are also deployed for help”, she added.
The elephant was successfully tranquilised on 5 June morning, but to release him, the government was forced to wait for a court order until the next day. The Court heard a public interest litigation filed by a Kerala animal rights activist Rebecca Joseph. It dismissed the plea of Ms Joseph to take the elephant back to Kerala, saying it was meant only for ‘fame’.
The Kerala High Court has also dismissed a plea filed by Sabu M Jacob, an activist, seeking relocation of Arikomban back to Kerala. Mr Jacob was against the translocation of the elephant to an artificial environment.
Following the court order, Arikomban was released in Tamil Nadu’s Upper Kodhayar region in Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve which is over 280 km away from where it was captured.
“Deputy Director, Kalakad Division, along with the frontline staff saw the elephant on 19th -20th August 2023 at Upper Kodayar”, said Supriya Sahu in the recent statement posted on X.
The tusker was seen roaming in the dam site and is active and very healthy, she said.
“Monitoring of the movement pattern of the tusker is being carried out through the signals emitted from the radio collar. Other elephant herds too are in the vicinity”, Ms Sahu added.
The pictures that spread while the capturing led a wide-spread controversy among the animal lovers and tribal groups about the elephant”s health status.
After the release of the elephant in Kalakad, the Tamil Nadu government has released his photos and videos four times.
The elephant”s route is being tracked at the Periyar Tiger Sanctuary through a radio collar signal. Kerala forest department also receives information about elephant movement through Kanyakumari DFO.
