Kusha, the elephant which was shifted from the Dubare elephant camp to the Moolehole forest area in Bandipur tiger reserve, has returned to Dubare in search of a mate.
As animal lovers expressed displeasure over Kusha being tied to chains and MP Maneka Gandhi urged the forest department to free the elephant, a meeting of senior officials in the presence of then minister Aravind Limbavali decided to release Kusha into the forest area in Bandipur tiger reserve after installing radio collar on it.
The jumbo was released into Bandipur forest in the first week of June last year.
Kusha has been moving constantly in Maldare and Dubare reserve forest near Dubare elephant camp said Kushalnagar range forest officer (RFO) Shivaram.
The elephant had managed to escape from the Dubare elephant camp in 2016 and made its way into the woods in search of a female partner.
With the help of two tamed elephants Lava and Kusha, he was brought back to the camp.
Kusha strayed into the forest in 2017 and remained untraceable for two years.
After continuous search operations, officials were able to bring him back to the camp.
When Kusha was in ‘musth’ stage, the elephant was tied to chains in March 2020.
He again escaped, joined a herd of 17 elephants and was seen moving with a female elephant.
Officials were successful in getting back Kusha to the camp from Meenukolli forest in March 2021.
He was confined to a wooden crawl so that mahouts could tame him.
Since this did not go down well with animal lovers, the government shifted him to Bandipur.