Residents welcome Kerala High Court order to relocate wild tusker

People of Chinnakkanal and Santhanpara grama panchayats welcomed the Kerala High Court’s order on Wednesday to shift wild tusker Arikompan

The people of Chinnakkanal and Santhanpara grama panchayats welcomed the Kerala High Court’s order on Wednesday to shift wild tusker Arikompan to the Parambikulam forest ranges in Palakkad district.

Local residents and people’s representatives said the High Court order would provide a big relief to the people.

Udumbanchola MLA M.M. Mani said that he welcomed the court verdict. “With the capture of tusker Arikompan, people of Santhanpara and Chinnakkanal panchayats will escape from elephant attacks,“ said Mr. Mani.

Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose said that the High Court order was the victory of democracy.

Chinnakkanal panchayat president Sini Baby said that the capturing of Arikompan would ease the human-elephant conflict in Chinnakkanal and Santhanpara panchayats.

M.N. Jayachandran, district secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), however, said that relocating Arikompan was unlikely to ease the human-elephant conflict in Chinnakkanal. “Restoring wild elephant habitat is the only possible and suitable way to prevent the human-elephant conflict in Santhanpara and Chinnakkanal panchayats,” said Mr. Jayachandran.

Meanwhile, residents of Sinkukandam and 301 Colony called off their day-and-night protest which had entered the sixth day on Wednesday. Udumbanchola MLA M.M. Mani, United Democratic Front (UDF) leader A.K. Mani, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader G.N. Gurunathan and Chinnakkanal panchayat president Sini Baby, among others, joined the protest at Sinkukandam on Wednesday.