Coimbatore: After a two-day long search, the forest departments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have finally traced an eight-year-old wild elephant injured and roaming around in poor health conditions on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border. A total of 11 teams, including seven teams in the Tamil Nadu forest area and four teams in the Kerala forest area, were involved in the search operation to trace the elephant, which had suffered a mouth injury, due to a conflict with wild elephants.
Also read: Forest officials set out in search of 8 year old elephant in TN
Authorities had also pressed drones into service for aerial surveillance to trace the elephant. The teams were finally successful in tracing the elephant on Wednesday evening in the Sengottai tribal village in the Tholampalayam forest area of Coimbatore. A forest department team headed by Coimbatore Forest Conservator Ramasubramanian camped in the dense forest area to catch the elephant.
Drone surveillance was also increased in the Tholampalayam forest where the elephant was spotted. The veterinary team kept the anaesthetics ready to anaesthetise the elephant. Coimbatore District Forest Officer Ashok Kumar said that the sick elephant was seen in Tholampalayam forest at 4.30 pm.
He said the team is trying to bring the elephant from the dense forest area to the plains to ease the rescue operation. He said that three forest department medical teams have been kept on standby to attend to the wild animal. The rescue operation was suspended on Wednesday night due to darkness and resumed early Thursday morning.
