COIMBATORE: The forest department has roped in six trained elephants, including Chinna Thambi, from Kozhikamuthi elephant camp to prevent forest fire in the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve (ATR). Forest officers have identified thickly grown bamboo trees, which might spark fire because of the friction, on Sethumadai-Topslip ghat route.
Elephants are being used to remove the bamboo trees to prevent the forest fire. "Thousands of bamboo trees have bloomed on the route and started drying up. When the dried bamboos come in contact, there is a chance of friction that will create forest fire.
Hence, we want to remove the dried bamboos and create a pathway in-between them to prevent fire from spreading. For this, we have brought six trained elephants - Muthu, Chinna Thambi, Selvi, Kavery, Abinaya and Sanjeev - from Kozhikamuthi elephant camp.
They have been removing the dried bamboos from Topslip for the past one week," a forest officer told TOI. He said it was not easy to clear the dried bamboos, as they were thickly grown. "The elephants are working hard to remove the dried bamboo. This is one of the methods to prevent forest fire."
The officer said they would use the elephants for one more week to clear the dried bamboo trees. "We will take the elephants to the Manombolly forest range."
The forest department, meanwhile, conducted a fire prevention training programme for its frontline staff at the Advanced Wildlife Management Training Centre at Attakatty on Thursday, when fire officer Ramachandran addressed them. The event also featured a demo on how to put out a forest fire.
