Coimbatore: A day after a group of farmers submitted a petition seeking his intervention to translocate wild elephants raiding farmlands at Thadagam area, the collector on Tuesday sent a letter to the forest department requesting to shift tusker Chinna Thambi to Mudumalai.The elephant has been damaging crops like tomato, maize, banana and coconut for the last six months, the letter said. “It has been causing problems at Varapalayam, Pannimadai, Periyathadagam, Chinnathadagam and other areas on the forest fringes. Though the forest department had taken several steps to drive the elephant deeper into the forest, it keeps coming back to the villages,” it said.A member of the rapid response team was injured badly when trying to drive away the elephant, the letter said. “On Monday, during the grievance day, almost 150 farmers submitted a petition demanding that the elephant be translocated. Hence, I request you to take necessary steps for the drive,” the letter added.The forest department has been trying to chase away wild elephants Chinna Thambi and Vinayaka to the neighbouring forest range for the last 10 days with the help of four kumkis (domesticated elephants). However, the duo avoid the kumkis and continue to visit the forest fringes almost every evening.

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