Even as senior officials of the forest department were in serious discussion about the next course of action in the a la Chinna Thambi incident, the hero of the story is continuing his odyssey in search of Thadagam Forests, his home turf. At the same time, a new guest in the form of a leopard has started giving ‘headache’ to the forest officials.
As on Wednesday evening, Chinna Thambi, who has endeared himself to the local population through his charming style, was roaming around Udumalpet area, according to a senior Tamil Nadu Forest Department official. “He had sugarcane for breakfast and lunch and is taking rest in a mango orchard,” said the official.
He said the department has decided not to train him as kumky (specialist elephant who trains other elephants) as Chinna Thambi has crossed the maximum age limit prescribed for such training. “We are monitoring his movements through the radio collar which we tied to his neck when he was tranquilised for re-locating. One of the options before us is to take him back to Thadagam, his favorite location,” said the official.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday night a four-year old leopard from the nearby reserve forest “trespassed” into an unoccupied house in Gudalur in search of some eatables.
By Wednesday morning, the ‘guest’ was trapped and has been moved to the forest inspection bungalow. “The animal has suffered some minor bruises when it was caged and the forest veterinary surgeon is attending to him. Once the animal is found to be in good health, we would release it into the reserve forest at Anamalai Tiger Reserve,” G Ramakrishnan, Range Officer, told The Pioneer.