Abhimanyu’s illness slows drive against rogue tuskers

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Mysuru: The Forest Department has put off all the operations to nab the marauding and trouble-making wild jumbos as ‘Captain’ Abhimanyu is not keeping well for the last 10 days. He has the credit of nabbing over 150 wild animals including elephants, tigers and leopards.

The captain took ill last during the operation to nab ‘Bhyra’, a notorious tusker which has created terror in Mudigere taluk of Chikmagalur district. The howdah-carrying elephant, Abhimanyu, became weak due to fever and diarrhoea that forced the authorities to postpone all the operations till the captain recovered.

Among the current set of tamed elephants, Abhimanyu is the most experienced and powerful in dealing with rogue elephants. Hence, the forest department has been extensively using him almost round-the-year, except during the run up to Mysuru Dasara festivities.

Almost all the operations are led by Abhimanyu and supported by a batch of domestic jumbos. Abhimanyu is a well-behaved elephant with his mahouts and kavadis, but very ferocious with predatory jumbos.

Fresh permission The State government had given permission to nab two elephants which are on rampage in the border villages of Hassan district, and they were captured within one week in August this year. The villagers, however, suspect the forest department had nabbed the wrong jumbo and not the troublemaker one.

At that time, the officials had convinced the villagers that they would take permission from their higher ups to capture the real trouble maker. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Vijaykumar had on August 30 issued another order giving permission to capture two more wild pachyderms, but it got postponed for more than two or three occasions.

In between, the attack of wild jumbos continued much to the disappointment of the villagers. Abhimanyu’s illness The Forest Department had pinned their hopes on Abhimanyu, along with Gopalaswamy, Arjun and Prashanth to carry out the operation. However, two days after launching Operation Byra 2.0 in the first week of this month, Abhimanyu developed fever, weakness due to diarrhoea and vomiting.

The veterinarians who are part of the operation advised 10-15 days of rest for Abhimanyu, and the department top brass decided to postpone the operations. Along with Abhimanyu’s health issues, Gopalaswamy and Prashanth went into ‘musth’ and refused to take commands. If everything goes well, the operations may be relaunched on November 20.

The postponement of Operation Byra 2.0 has not gone well among villagers in Mudigere taluk as they continue to face the menace of marauding elephants. They have urged the forest department to re-launch the operation without much delay.Abhimanyu’s illness puts Operation Bhyra on hold