COIMBATORE: A crop raiding ‘makhna’ (tuskless male elephant) has been tranquilised and captured on Monday for translocation from Pollachi, third time in a span of 6 months.

The elephant was first captured in Palacode in Dharmapuri and released into the forest area in Varagaliyar near Top Slip in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on 5 February. But the wild jumbo trekked over 100 kms to reach the outskirts of Coimbatore and strayed into residential areas.

It was once again captured and relocated to Manambolly in Valparai on 23 February. After staying inside the forest area for some time, the elephant got habituated to crop raiding, returned to its antics of damaging crops and farms in Sethumadai in Pollachi. It became more challenging for the forest department to monitor the movements of the elephant as the radio collar fitted on it failed to emit signals.

Following repeated demands from villagers, the forest department formed a four member team of forest veterinarians and tracked the elephant for a week. They successfully captured the wild elephant with the assistance of a trained kumki elephant named Kapildev. The rogue elephant was darting with tranquilliser shots at around 5.15 am when it came out to raid crops.

“The captured elephant is in good health and its dung and blood samples were taken for a further laboratory analysis. It has been released in Chinna Kallar forest area in ATR,” said an official. The forest department plans to push the jumbo further deep into the forests