For the past few weeks, a seven-year-old elephant has been damaging crops near Gudiyatham reserve forest (RF) in Vellore.
Officials with the State Forest Department said the elephant had strayed away from his herd, comprising four elephants, including a calf, in the Kaundinya Sanctuary in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. For more than a fortnight, the tusker has been roaming the 4-km Mordhana Road in the Gudiyatham Reserve Forest.
A 10-member team, including three forest watchers, have been trying to reunite the tusker with its herd for more than a week. “We have been trying to get it (elephant) to join its group by allowing the herd from the sanctuary into the reserve forest but without success,” Mr. Saravanan Babu, Forest Range Officer (Gudiyatham), told The Hindu.
Unlike other ranges like Arcot, Odugathur, Pernambut and Amirthi within the Vellore forest division, the Gudiyatham range has an elephant corridor due to its proximity with the Kaundinya Sanctuary in Chittoor. As a result, herds of elephants travel through the dense forests like Pichannur, Veera Chatti Patti, Parathami extension and Kalapadi before moving to Mordhana dam. Last year alone, 46 elephants migrated from the sanctuary to the reserve forests around Mordhana dam along the corridor.
Officials said solar-powered electric fences along the corridor were also blocking the free movement of elephants from the sanctuary to reserve forests in Krishnagiri, Hosur and Erode. Efforts are also being taken to prevent residents from venturing into these forests.
