Chased Away As 'Rogue' Elephant Years Ago, 'Kumki Chinnathambi' Brought Back To Coimbatore To Drive Out Wild Tuskers

The kumki elephant was brought back to Thadagam valley on Monday five years after being relocated to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve.

Coimbatore: In a dramatic turn of events, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has brought the kumki (trained elephant) 'Chinnathambi', which was relocated in 2019 for being 'rogue', from the Anamalai Tiger Reserve to the Thadagam valley in Coimbatore district to drive out wild elephants.

Exciting scenes were on display on Monday as 35-year-old tusker is the talk of the town as it was brought by the Forest Department from the Anamalai Tiger Reserve to the valleys of Thadagam, Anaikatti, and Mangarai along the Western Ghats in Coimbatore district.

While 'Chinnathambi' is being seen as a messiah to drive out wild elephants intruding into human habitats , only a few years ago, there were complaints that the “rogue” tusker was damaging agricultural lands and crops. Subsequently, in 2019, when the forest department relocated the elephant Chinnathambi to the ATR.

Years down the line, Chinnathambi, which once roamed areas including Thadagam, Anaikatti, and Mangarai, has now returned to the same area, but as a 'Kumki', to protect the people who chased him away that day.

The now kumki Chinnathambi along with two other elephants Periyathambi and Vinayagan, used to roam in the agricultural lands adjacent to the forest area in search of food. I

Long before Chinnathambi was relocated, in 2007, the other tusker Periyathambi was released in the Thengumarahada forest area of the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.

The forest department caught the third tusker 'Vinayagan' in 2018 and released it in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. But, farmers' protests persisted against Chinnathambi, which they said was damaging agricultural crops.

Environmentalist and secretary of the Coimbatore Wildlife Conservation Trust, told ETV Bharat that they have been monitoring the elephants Chinnathambi, Vinayagan and Periya Thambi for over 15 years.