CHENNAI: The forest department relocated a lone tusker, which was roaming near Dharmapuri town and nearby villages, to a forest area to avoid human-wildlife conflict, on Saturday.

A department release said that the male Elephant, aged about 20-25 years, had strayed from the main herd in Pennagaram Range forest area to Palacode range limits of Dharmapuri division in the February last week. On March 3, the same elephant reached the outskirts of Dharmapuri town by travelling about 25 kms, crossing NH 44 during night hours. This created panic in and around Dharmapuri town and adjacent villages.

The forest department took several steps to drive the elephant back to the reserve forest area. A team of officials and trackers were deployed to monitor the strayed elephant for 12 days to drive the animal back to Pennagaram forest area.

In-spite of best efforts of the Department, the elephant came back to human habitation. It was observed for the past 2 days that the elephant remained near the human habitation area in Morappur range limits. In the interest of the safety of local people as well as to safe-guard the elephant, a team of veterinarians tranquilized the wild jumbo on Friday morning in the outskirts of Sillarahalli village, Morappur Range limits. The elephant was translocated and safely released in a suitable habitat about 55 kms away with water hole, fodder and water availability, the release said.