The elephants Suryan (20), Neelakandan (22) and Surendran (20) have embarked on their journey to the neighbouring State to take up their new task. 

They would henceforth be instrumental in driving away wild elephants that enter human settlements. The three pachyderms, accompanied by their mahouts, commenced their journey in an open vehicle.

The animals were trained in kumki operations by Tamil Nadu Forest department personnel following a request from their Kerala counterparts. With this, Kerala would now have its own kumkis for assistance during times of conflict.

“The Kerala government depends on kumkis from Tamil Nadu and other states for emergency operations. If they had their own trained jumbos, Kerala needn’t rely on other states. The Kerala elephants were trained after obtaining permission from the State government,” said TP Raghunath, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Tamil Nadu. 

State Forest department officials said Kerala has urged them to train more such captive elephants in the future. “These elephants were trained without causing any harm to them. They all have completed their training in a successful manner,” added a forest official, requesting anonymity.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Kerala) PK Kesavan, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Srinivas R Reddy, Field Director of the MTR AK Ulaganathan and other officials were present on the occasion.

Apart from the three elephants from Kerala, four more captive jumbos identified as Giri, Srinivas, Krishna and Bomman, all belonging to Tamil Nadu, were also trained at the Theppakadu elephant camp.