Kerala: Arikomban retraced after a 24-hour radio collar signal loss

Periyar: After a 24-hour-long search of the wild tusker Arikomban, the Kerala Forest Department finally retrieves a signal from the radio collar on Wednesday. The wild tusker was untraceable for more than 24 hours as the forest department failed to receive signals from the radio collar on Tuesday. 

According to reports, the elephant is traversing jungles along the boundary between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. During the previous three days, the tusker covered about 20 kilometres.

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Following its capture from the forested areas of the Chinnakanal region in the Idukki district, Arikomban was relocated to the Periyar Tiger Reserve a few days ago. 

Since early Tuesday morning, the elephant's radio collar stopped transmitting signals. According to the Forest Department's assessment, the tusker was probably near Cholavanam, a region of deep forest with poor satellite reception. 

The Department had been getting signals from its satellite collar every hour since releasing Arikomban in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. However, yesterday after 4 am, signals stopped working. Despite being on the lookout, watchers from the Forest Department could not locate the tusker either.

The Kerala High Court had on April 19 directed the expert panel appointed by it and the state government to take a final decision by May 3 on the alternative site suggested by the Forest department for translocating the 'Arikomban'. 

The direction by the High Court came after the Forest department said it had an alternative location in mind and would place the same before the Committee of Experts (CoE) appointed by it to decide the fate of Arikomban for its consideration. 

Also read: Mission 'Arikomban' accomplished! Wild rice-eating tusker captured and being taken to Periyar