MANGALURU: The Forest Department on Tuesday launched ‘Operation Elephant’ to capture a wild elephant that killed two people at Meenadi in Kadaba taluk of Dakshina Kannada district.
Five tamed and trained elephants have arrived from Nagarahole and Dubare elephant camps for the operation. Abhimanyu, Prashanth, Harsha, Kanjan and Mahendra, which are experienced in catching wild elephants, arrived in trucks on Monday night. The team of Forest Department personnel conducted surveys and detected the movement of wild elephants using drones.
The operation is being led by Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Dinesh Y K along with personnel staff from the Sulya, Panja and Subramanya sectors. A team of 30 trained elephant mahouts and kavadis and some locals are involved in the operation. Veterinary doctors of Nagarahole and Mangaluru, who have expertise in darting, have also joined the operation.