Following a five-day joint operation of the forest officials of Chittoor and Gudiyattam range of Tamil Nadu, the one-eyed lone tusker, which had reportedly killed a forest jeep driver last week, was driven into the Tamil Nadu forests on Wednesday night.
About 30 elephant trackers from both sides located the tusker moving close to the Gudiyattam-Chittoor road on the border. The trackers, with the help of drumbeats and firing of crackers, drove the pachyderm towards the Gudiyattam range crossing the Chittoor limits. As the animal moved deep into the forests beyond the 5-km range, the possibility of its making an immediate comeback into the vicinity of the border villages was considered remote.
The elephant was believed to be the one which went on rampage, destroying crops, in full view of villagers at Dalavaipalle in Yadamarri mandal in January . It was observed that it turned aggressive after it got separated from a herd of 15 members. Divisional Forest Officer S. Ravi Shankar said the presence of a lone elephant, which too crippled in one eye, would definitely pose a danger to human movement. “Hence, in coordination with our Tamil Nadu counterparts, we could accomplish the task at the earliest,” he said.
