MYSURU: While the first batch of six elephants, including howdah elephant Arjuna, was brought to Mysuru from the forest to be trained for the Dasara procession, the remaining five elephants were summoned to Ramanagara district to capture a tusker.Foresters ferried Dasara elephants Abhimanyu, Drona, Krishna, Balarama and Harsha to Halaguru in the district to capture a tusker, which would rampage through fields and destroy the crops. Arjuna, Gopi, Dhananjay, Vikram, Varalakshmi and Chaitraare are already in Mysuru.The elephants were summoned after villagers demanded that the troublesome jumbo be captured. The villagers claimed that over the past three years, elephant herds regularly strayed in from nearby forest areas and destroyed their standing crop.Foresters had tried to chase the tusker back into the forest by beating drums and bursting crackers, but had failed. When villagers insisted on a solution, the foresters summoned five Dasara elephants who are experts in the job.On Friday, the Dasara elephants, along with forest staff, carried out a combing operation in the forest fringes for nearly two hours, and finally managed to trace the tusker near Halasanamarada Doddi village. The foresters managed to capture the tusker with the help of Dasara elephants, by shooting a tranquillizer dart.The tusker was chained, and made to clamber on to the truck with the help of the elephants, and later shifted to an elephant camp in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve.Meanwhile, the Dasara elephants which successfully participated in the operation, returned to their respective camps.Harsha and Krishna, who participated in the operation, are not taking part in the Dasara celebrations this year, and will remain in their camps, while Gopalaswamy, Vijaya and Kaveri, who were in Mathigodu and Dubare camps, will join the four elephants in the second batch to travel to Mysuru to participate in Dasara.DCF (wildlife) Siddaramappa told TOI that the elephants which were used to capture the tusker, have returned their camps in the forest. “We are yet to finalise the date for the second batch of elephants to be ferried to Mysuru,” he said.Sources said the second batch of elephants will reach Mysuru in the third week of September. “They will be here after Ganesha festival as we don’t have much time to train in Dasara rituals,” they said.

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