A kraal created in 1958 at Varagliyar, the erstwhile elephant camp of the Forest Department near Top Slip in Anamalai Tiger Reserve, near Pollachi, and used for taming more than 50 elephants has turned into a deathbed for Kattayan alias Madukkarai Maharaj. Incidentally, he is the first jumbo to breathe its last there.
This happens to be the first death in kraal in the last 20 years, say forest officials and wildlife experts.
The other deaths in kraal in the last 20 years reported in South India included one at Peppara in 2006 and another one at Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh in mid-1990s.
Use of kraal is the only mode of domesticating a wild elephant when it proves problematic and same is the practice across India and in Africa and there are no other methods or means available, says K. Kalidasan of Osai.
D. Boominathan, Landscape Co-ordinator of WWF, says chaining the elephant would only lead to injuries on its legs and thereby claim its life gradually over a period of time and the process would be so painful and inhuman.
When asked whether the animal could have been released to save its life, releasing the animal into the wild was a dangerous idea as it could attack so many other lives and elephants in the process of escaping into the wild. It is also not easy to dismantle even a portion of the kraal to make way for the elephant.
The death took place when it was surrounded by six tamed/trained elephants round-the-clock. Deployment of such elephants was to prevent threat to the animal in captivity and also to provide a moral and psychological backing to the animal in distress. There were criticisms on the social media accusing the operation of not having been done scientifically and also of rumours that over dosage of sedatives had caused the death.
When asked for response, senior officials and veterinarians, who conducted the autopsy, said the animal was given tranquilisation shots only twice. “One was at the time of capturing it at 4.30 a.m. on Sunday and the next was at 5.30 p.m. while pushing it into the kraal.”
It was a video of the second darting that had gone viral on social media.
Regarding the distance from which the darting was done, they added that the tranquiliser gun used was an advanced one that could be adjusted depending on the distance from which the darting is being done. Dosage used in both darts were of a lesser quantity compared to the dosage and the number of darts that were used in Gudalur operation three months ago.
