Elephant evading capture for six months tranquilised in Coimbatore

An elephant, which had been foraying into fields and destroying crops at Periya Thadagam area on the outskirts of the city and evading capture for the last six months was tranquilised Tuesday. Forest department sources said that their efforts to scare it away using Kumkis (tamed elephants) in the last six months had failed.

They said some villagers noticed the pachyderm moving about the area in heat early Tuesday and alerted them. Officials rushed a team to the spot with kumkis, along with a veterinarian.

The pachyderm was tranquilised and brought under control, radio-collared and loaded onto a truck with the help of kumkis, they said, adding it would be taken to a spot in Mudumalai, bordering Bandipur in Karnataka and Wayanad in Kerala.