Coimbatore: The forest department, which had launched an operations to guide the two wild elephants away from the Thadagam-Anaikatti belt with the help of two kumkis (domesticated elephants) on Saturday, finds itself in a precarious situation of having to balance the demands of the farmers and tribals in the region.While the farmers want Vinayaka and Chinna Thambi, who are raiding the lands, translocated, tribals and environmentalists have begun a campaign to save the elephants from being disturbed.Just as the department brought the kumkis to the region, posters demanding ‘Save Vinayaka and Chinna Thambi’ came up along Thadagam Road and Anaikatti Road. “It is only farmers, who want the wild elephants to go away,” said Joshua A, a schoolteacher and social activist from Anaikatti. “The elephants raid farms in search of food, because the farmers have cultivated crops like banana and vegetables. They are cultivating these crops in cleared forest areas and fringes, which is why elephants, which are usually shy animals, are coming out of the forest,” he told TOI.Environmentalists say that the demand to translocate the elephants is not sustainable and is against the animal rights. “Driving these elephants from the corridor is not sustainable. The solution is to remove encroachments on the elephant corridor and ensure that the streams have water all the time,” said environmentalist Umesh Marudachalam. “The two elephants are in musth stage and are likely to behave in an aggressive manner. Any move to translocate them will be dangerous.”But the forest department clarified that there were no plans to translocate the elephants. “Translocation is complicated and requires an order from the ministry. We just plan to use the four kumkis to guide these elephants away from the human habitation for a few days, hoping that it makes them change course,” said chief conservator of forests Deepak Shrivastava. “We will see how this plan works for a fortnight. But if it does not work, then we will come up with another solution.”According to the tribals, Chinna Thambi is not at all aggressive. “That elephant was named Chinna Thambi because of his non-aggressive nature. We consider his appearance a good omen,” said Karati, a tribal from Anaikatti.“The two elephants have marked Thadagam and Anaikatti belt as their territory and are not seasonal visitors. They should not be moved,” Joshua added.

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