Udhagamandalam: The forest department is gearing up to release tusker Rivaldo, which was captured in May and kept in a kraal at Vazhaithottam in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR)-buffer zone in the Nilgiris for treatment, into the wild.
The move comes after an eight-member committee that was constituted by the forest department to study the health condition of the tusker submitting a favourable report on releasing the animal into the forest.
Principal chief conservator of forest Shekar Kumar Niraj, who also holds the post of chief wildlife warden, had issued the order for the soft release of the tusker into the forest on Friday. The tusker had sustained a cut to its trunk in an unknown incident. According to L C S Srikanth, deputy director, MTR-buffer zone, the chief wildlife warden has specified a list of standard operating procedures for the release of Rivaldo.