Home relief: Arikomban fans repay a tribal couple’s backing of wild jumbo (IDUKKI)
Home relief: Arikomban fans repay a tribal couple’s backing of wild jumbo
(IDUKKI)
Nejma Sulaiman, The New Indian Express
March 7, 2025
See link
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2025/Mar/07/home-relief-arikomban-fans-repay-a-tribal-couples-backing-of-wild-jumbo
for photo.
It was during the state forest department’s mammoth mission of capturing
and translocating wild elephant Arikomban that a tribal couple from
Vilakku, Chinnakkanal, grabbed media headlines.
Despite being attacked by Arikomban in 2010 and seriously injuring his
right shoulder in the process, 68-year-old Thomas and his wife Vijayamma
questioned the department’s move, demanding that the tusker be left to its
natural habitat in Chinnakkanal.
As it transpired, Arikomban was moved to a better habitat and the dust
kicked up the controversy settled.
In the meantime, the couple also saw their circumstances improve as members
of the Kochi-based Arikomban Fans Association sponsored a container home
near their makeshift shed in Vilakku six months ago.
Thomas says that ever since they were resettled in Chinnakkanal after the
government allotted them an acre of land in 2003, the elephant menace had
been rampant in the area.
“Over the past 21 years, wild elephants have demolished our makeshift shed
at least six times, with most of the attacks being spearheaded by
Murivalan, a tusker which died around six months ago,” he said
It was around midnight on November 1, 2010, that Thomas was attacked by
Arikomban when he was returning home after selling lottery tickets. “I
pleaded with him to leave me alone. However, he dug his tusk into my left
shoulder and flung me away. I managed to make a phone call to local
residents seeking help. And I was shifted to a nearby hospital,” he tells
TNIE.
Thomas says that although he has been witness to the destruction wrought by
wild elephants, he never bears any ill feeling towards them. “Being born
into the Mala Arayan tribal community in Idukki’s Peermade, we have always
inhabited the reserve forest there and coexisted with wild animals.
Jumbos have always strayed onto the sprawling Shola grasslands in
Chinnakkanal and they continue to roam the area. There used to be around 63
jumbos in the Chinnakkanal area, but the numbers have now dwindled to
around 20,” Vijayamma points out.
She said that they demanded leaving Arikomban in Chinnakkanal because
compared to other wild elephants in the area he wasn’t a trouble-maker.
“However, wittingly or otherwise all the blame fell on him,” she said
It was through social media and news reports that fans association members
came to know about the couple. “On hearing our plight of repeatedly losing
our makeshift hut to jumbos, the members decided to extend a helping hand.
They set up the container home six months ago and we have not been at the
receiving end of jumbo attacks since,” she stresses.
They have applied for an electricity connection for the new house. “We hope
to get it soon,” Vijayamma adds.