The radio collar fitted on wild tusker Arikompan, which was translocated from Chinnakanal to the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) on Sunday, indicate that it went on a sojourn to Tamil Nadu forest and is now back in Kerala forest.
“The tusker moved to Vannathippara forests in Tamil Nadu on Monday evening. The last signal received from the radio collar on Tuesday at 4 a.m. indicates that the tusker was five-km inside the Kerala forest. The animal may be under some thick canopy, which we suspect could be impeding signals from the collar at present,” says a forest official.
Before its translocation to the PTR, the forest department had attached a satellite radio collar to the tusker, which officials say provides signals without mobile range.
