First operation of kumki elephants to curb wild tusker menace in Chittoor to begin soon, say forest officials

Three kumki elephants (trained tuskers) brought from Karnataka have been given advanced training to get acclimatised to the local conditions at the Musalimadugu camp near Palamaner. The first session of operations by the kumkis to curb the perennial threat from ‘crop-raiding wild elephants’ in Chittoor district would commence soon, the forest officials said.

The forest officials of Palamaner and Kuppam ranges are getting ready for the deployment of trained handlers to commence kumki operations at high-risk locations. The specially trained batch would control wild herds that cause damage to standing crops such as paddy, tomatoes, vegetables, and groundnut, besides inflicting casualties in humans and cattle.

A specially designed 30-day programme was formulated to assist the kumkis in getting acclimatised to the local topography, climatic conditions, and terrain, and particularly to the behavioural patterns of the wild elephants.

The wild elephants are from the Koundinya wildlife sanctuary, and move for temporary migration to the tri-State junction from the forests of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

In may be mentioned here, that four trained elephants were brought to Chittoor district from Karnataka last month on the initiative of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. Out of the four, one is still under special orientation, which is expected to be completed by the next two weeks.

The forest officials said that priority is being given to adopting technology-based solutions to track the movement of wild elephants. The other features included GPS tracking and drones to locate herds, track migration paths, and spot their regular jaunts.

By observing the data, the forest beats which are vulnerable to frequenting by the wild elephants, and the agricultural fields which bear the maximum visits of the animals would be mapped.

Published - June 08, 2025 07:02 pm IST