The mission to tranquilise and relocate the rice-eating tusker ‘Arikomban’, which has been terrorising residents of Chinnakanal and Santhanpara panchayats here, will continue, Kerala Forest Minister A K Saseendran said on Friday.

A team of forest officials led by Chief Conservator of Forest, R S Arun, has been trying to locate the elephant since early Friday morning.

However, they are yet to locate the elephant in the jungle and the minister said it would be difficult today as the “temperature is rising”.

“Officials are still trying to locate the elephant. The Forest department is not withdrawing from the mission. The movement of the elephant depends on the temperature and hence we cannot predict an exact time to capture it,” Saseendran told the media here.

Over one hundred officials from the Forest department, the KSEB, the Fire and Rescue department and the Health department among others were deployed for the mission to capture the elephant and relocate it.

While addressing the media after an event, the minister also criticised the organisation which took the matter to the court and said the court procedures delayed the capture.

“In this case if the court had not interfered, we could have caught him earlier. We were ready but then some organisations dragged the matter to court and caused trouble to the people. We are now following the court’s order,” he said.

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A senior wildlife official told PTI that the officials were trying to locate the elephant.

Once the elephant is located, a team led by Chief Veterinary Officer, Arun Zachariah, is expected to tranquilise the jumbo.

Forest officials had earlier said that if the elephant was located among a herd, then he needs to be separated and brought to a suitable place where he can be tranquilised in order to be shifted to the vehicle.

The minister said earlier in the morning that even though prohibitory orders are in place, people are flocking the region to witness the capture of the elephant.

He urged people not to gather around as it may result in the elephant shying away which may make it difficult to capture the animal.

The Minister on Friday said once the elephant is captured, then it will be transferred based on the directions of the High Court.

The Kerala High Court had on April 19 directed the expert panel appointed by it and the state government to take a final decision by May 3 on the alternative site suggested by the Forest department for translocating the ‘Arikomban.’

The direction by the High Court came after the Forest department said it had an alternative location in mind and would place the same before the Committee of Experts (CoE) appointed by it to decide the fate of Arikomban for its consideration.

The court had asked the CoE to examine the feasibility of the alternative site for translocating the tusker and to keep details of the recommended location confidential.

The court was hearing a PIL by two animal rights groups — People for Animals (PFA), Trivandrum Chapter and the Walking Eye Foundation for Animal Advocacy — opposing the government decision to keep the elephant in captivity and train it to become a kumki elephant.

Kumkis are captive elephants trained for use in trapping and capturing wild elephants.

On April 12, the court had given the state a week’s time to come up with an alternative location to translocate the elephant after the government said that people living close to Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Palakkad district were objecting to moving ‘Arikomban’ there as suggested by the CoE.

The government’s submission came during the hearing of a plea moved by CPI(M) MLA from Nenmara Assembly constituency K Babu, seeking review of the court’s April 5 order agreeing with the CoE suggestion.

The court had declined to review its order but had given the state a week’s time to come up with an alternative location.