Wild tusker 'Arikomaban' that was recently translocated from the Chinnakanal region of the Idukki district is suspected to have returned to the same location.
There were reports that the tusker that was translocated to forest areas of Periyar Tiger Reserve in Idukki on April 30 after a tedious operation is now moving towards the Chinnakanal region.
The elephant that earlier entered parts of Tamil Nadu was spotted near human settlements in the Thekkady area on Thursday night. Forest authorities reportedly fired in the air to scare away the tusker from human settlements. It was later found to be moving towards the Mathikettan direction, which is towards Chinnakanal.
Forest officials are monitoring the elephant's movements using a GPS radio collar that was fixed on it.
Chinnakanal is around 100 kilometres away from Periyar Tiger Reserve by road, but the forest route is less.
Animal rights activist M Jayachandran said that the chances of the tusker returning to its original habitat could not be ruled out. Earlier, too, there were instances of translocated elephants returning to their original habitats, he said.
'Arikomanban' was translocated following a demand by the local people as it frequently entered human settlements and caused destruction. Several persons were also reportedly killed by the tusker. The elephant often took rice from human settlements and hence, it was named 'Arikomban' — 'Ari' in Malayalam means rice, and 'Komban' means tusker.