Forest dept responds on Arikomban’s death news circulating on social media

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The death news of Arikomban, the rogue tusker, popular in Kerala, is being circulated on social media. The forest department came forward responding after the news circulated in many WhatsApp Groups. The officials of the forest department said the elephant translocated from Cumbum to Kothayar Dam in Tamil Nadu is healthy.

Arikomban was released in Kalakad forest area of Tamil Nadu on last June 6. Arikomban was one of the regular aggressive wild elephants in Chinnakanal and Santhanpara panchayats for decades. He is between 30 to 40 years old. It is a solid-bodied elephant despite its small tusks. Any elephant will panic if it comes before Arikomban. His practice is to break into ration shops, kitchens and grocery stores and steal rice. He got the name Arikomban after that. The elephant takes in sacks of rice and wheat at a time. The region has been plagued by Arikomban for more than two decades. Arikomban had inhabited to residential areas in Chinnakanal.

The wild elephant had vandalised ration shops of Panniyar Estate nine times in a year. It had damaged more that 60 houses and various shops. The forest department had informed the court that Arikomban had killed seven people. However, the locals said it had killed more than 12 people.