With the wild tusker Arikompan remaining elusive throughout Friday, the Forest department decided to halt the mission to capture the elephant for the day.
Munnar Divisional Forest Officer Ramesh Bishnoi said the operation would resume on Saturday morning. “The department has decided to continue the mission till the capture of Arikompan,” said Mr. Bishnoi.
Officials said the operation to capture the tusker began around 4.30 a.m. “The tusker was under the watch of the Forest department till 2 a.m. but went elusive afterwards. A search of over nine hours by a special team and watchers at Chinnakkanal for the elephant went in vain. As it remained elusive till 4 p.m., we decided to wind up the mission for the day,” said a forest official.
