Relief for Kerala jumbo as crossed tusks sawed-off

Thiruvananthapuram, April 10 It was anxious moments for Kerala's Kollam resident Omanakuttan Pillai on Monday morning as a team of elephant experts and wild life-staff sawed off the excess length of his cross-tusked 20-year-old elephant Kochu Ayyappan.

According to the rules, elephant owners have to get the permission from the Kerala Forests and Wildlife Department officials to saw off the tusks and Pillai, who owns the tusker, had been waiting to get the permission for the past two months.

Finally the permission came and on Monday the team arrived and soon an obedient Kochu Ayyappan, asked to lie down, complied without any fuss, as it knew that once sawed off, it will be able to freely use its trunk.

Using a hand saw, it took an hour for the workers to saw about 28 cms from both the tusks and when it was done, the tusker also knew that things will be easier for it.

Later the remaining portion of the tusks were polished also.

Pillai said the problem when an elephant becomes cross tusked is that it will be unable to feed properly using its trunk and the movement of the trunk also gets restricted.

Meanwhile, Forest Department official Krishnakumar, who oversaw the sawing-off operations, took possession of the sawed 28 cms long tusks.

"This will now be deposited at the strong room of the Forest Department. What will be done to it is the decision of the State government," he said.

Incidentally a similar sawing operation was done on Kochu Ayyapan almost three years back.

sg/vd