Problematic elephant ‘ME3’ returns to Chhattisgarh

Moving in Chhattisgarh, the elephant entered into Wadsa division in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on the borders of Telangana, barely around 30 kilometers from the district a fortnight ago

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Problematic elephant named ‘ME3’ returned to Chhattisgarh, providing relief to locals and forest department officials in the district.

Moving in Chhattisgarh, the elephant entered into Wadsa division in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on the borders of Telangana, barely around 30 kilometers from the district a fortnight ago.

It killed a person for trying to take a selfie in front of it in the neighboring state a week ago, sparking a panic among locals of Chintalamanepalli, Bejjur, Koutala, Penchikalpet mandals.

Forest officials, who were tracking movement of the elephant with the help of their counterparts from Maharashtra said that it returned to Chhattisgarh. But they were still on a caution mode and were trying to create awareness among the rural folks over its presence in the neighboring state.

The pachyderm had already trampled Alluri Shankar (50) to death at Burepalli village before killing Karu Posham (65) at Kondapalli village on April 3 and 4 respectively. However, it was later successfully diverted towards Maharashtra on April 6.

ME3 is a lone elephant moving in Chhattisgarh forests and often strays into Maharashtran forests also. A herd of 27 elephants were presently found in the forests of Maharashtra for quite a long time. The Maharashtra forest department was monitoring the elephant movement with the help of a Kolkata-based NGO Stripes and Green Earth Foundation (SAGE).

Meanwhile, a tiger which strayed into Telangana’s Boath mandal returned to Maharashtra. It moved in the forests of Boath and Sarangapur mandals in October last week.

It killed cattle at Chintalbori village on October 24, triggering panic among farmers and shepherds. It was a resident tiger of Kinwat in Maharashtra which drifted towards Telangana for mating, officials say.
The forest officials created a base camp and four teams to track movement of the tiger and to ensure smooth passage for it.