Special Correspondent

Tranquilizing tusker ‘Arikkomban’ again in just around a month may not be harmful, admit veterinarians. The sedative dose and boosters will not affect its life-saving reflexes. But it is the fear and the panic of the elephant that can prove dangerous.

Veterinarian Shaji Panikkasseri points to the tragic case of wild elephant ‘Madukkarai Maharaj’ in 2016. The wild tusker had been roaming freely and ‘royally’ in Madukkarai near Coimbatore, ravaging fields and had even killed two people.

Finally, on June 20, 2016, after a major relocation operation by a massive team of veterinarians and forest officials, the tusker was sedated and captured and brought to a kraal in an elephant camp in Anamalai Tiger Reserve. But in hardly 46 hours, the panicked tusker began its struggle to free itself. It cracked two of the logs in the cage and then slammed its head on the cage for the last time.

Post mortem revealed that it had suffered multiple fractures on its forehead and also had other injuries during its attempt to escape.