Krishnagiri: The district forest officer (DFO) E. Rajenderan, who reviewed the operation to goad a small herd of six jumbos back to the forest, said that his department had taken the help of local villagers to monitor the movement of migratory elephants.

On Sunday, Guruparathapalli villagers spotted a jumbo herd staying in a farm close to the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway, near Shoolagiri in Krishnagiri district. They alerted the forest staff who in turn went to the place and conducted operation to drive the wild animals back to the forest.

The operation started at around 6 am and continued for three hours till the jumbos crossed the national highway at 9 am to reach Settipalli reserved forest. The traffic movement was stopped for ten minutes disrupting vehicle movement on Chennai-Bengaluru national highway.

Rajenderan after the operation told reporters that wild animals came here from Bannarghatta wild life sanctuary in neighbouring Karanataka, a few weeks ago. The herd first entered Jawalagiri reserved forest in Krishnagiri and moved towards Ramapuram, Aaliyalam, Pannapalli, Kukkalapalli and finally reached Guruparathapalli during its migration to Chittoor in neighbouring Andhra Pardesh.

The DFO said, “the jumbos stayed in the farm as they were afraid of crossing the national highway due to vehicle traffic. They were allowed to cross the road after closing the traffic for few minutes. Now, the herd stays in Settipalli and may move towards Berigai either to reach Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh reserved forest,” Rajenderan said.

He pointed out that incidents of man-animal conflict including crop damages had reduced after the Forest department and the local villagers started working jointly in handling the wild elephants that move out of the forest during the migration.

“The cluster of villages has been identified after the survey of areas where the movement of jumbos are frequent. Special task force was formed in these places in which local villagers work with our department as volunteers,” Rajenderan said.

He explained, “members of the task force will monitor the movement of the migratory elephant and give information for both the village people and the Forest department if they spot any jumbos staying close the villages.”