Jumbos disobey mahouts, to go back to camps

COIMBATORE: Five years after battling alongside the forest department to keep away wild elephants from entering human habitats, Pari, the majestic kumki, is all set to return to its parent camp at Varakaliyar in Topslip from Chadivayal camp in rural Coimbatore.

Pari's campmate Sujay would also be shifted from Chadivayal to Mudhumalai elephant camp, since one of its tusks was broken in a fight with a wild elephant. According to forest officials, Pari and Sujay were not getting along well and of late they had been showing resistance to follow the commands of mahouts during the chasing or capturing of wild elephants. "This forced us to take the decision to shift them," the official said.

Within a week after shifting the two kumkis, their replacements would come from Mudhumalai or Varakaliyar, an officer said.

"We have shot off a letter to the chief wildlife warden of the forest department. After getting nod, we will send back the kumkis to Varakaliyar and Mudhumalai elephant camps," said N Satheesh, district forest officer, Coimbatore forest division.The kumkis are expected to be shifted in a week, he said.

K Kalidasan, president of OSAI, an environmental NGO, said the two kumkis had played a key role in controlling man-elephant conflict. "This is a right move.The two should be sent back to hilly terrain. In future, forest officials should consider sending back kumkis to their respective hill camps after a year of service in plains,'' he said. Kalidasan said elephants live in herds and isolating them for long would affect them psychologically .

Forest department sources said the two kumkis were not following the mahouts' commands of late. "Pari refused to obey the directions during operation Madukkarai Maharaj last year, when we were struggling to capture the wild elephant,'' a forest officer said.