Kumki or trained elephants have a crucial role in mitigating man-animal conflicts. But many a time the Kerala Forest Department has to depend on Tamil Nadu or Karnataka for getting the services of Kumki elephants.
The department has now come out with a solution and plans to train orphaned elephants housed in various elephant camps in the State. The elephant training programme resumed at the Muthanga elephant camp under the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary a few weeks ago, after an interval of two decades.
“The six-month training programme mainly aims at strengthening the Kumki squad to mitigate the increasing man-animal conflict in the State,” B. Anjan Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife, Palakkad, told The Hindu.
Three now
“We have started training three elephants, a female elephant, Sundari, and two tuskers, Agasthyan and Unnikrishnan, of the Kottur elephant camp,” Mr. Anjan Kumar said. With this, the number of elephants in the camp has gone up to 10.
The earlier plan was to train five elephants, including one elephant from the Abhayaranyam elephant training and rescue centre, Kodanad, and another offered by the Karnataka Forest Department from its Dubare elephant camp, Kushalnagar. But the elephant from Kodanad could not be shifted owing to protests by local residents and the Karnataka Forest Department failed to keep its word.
Last year, three elephants — Surya from the Muthanga elephant camp, Neelakandan from Kodanad, and Surendran from the Konni camp — were provided three-month training at the Theppakadu training camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
Mahouts too
Seven mahouts — two from Muthanga, two from Konni and three from Kodanad — were also trained.
The services of these mahouts were being used to train the new elephants.
“The animals will first be trained to obey basic commands, and subsequently to carry out complex tasks. The elephants would be trained in operations such as managing marauding elephants, including arresting and leading such elephants during an operation, assisting in kraal making, boarding and alighting from a forest ambulance, and parading,” Mr. Anjan Kumar, who is supervising the programme, said.
Wild area exposure
“They will also provide wild area exposure and training in tackling wild elephants,” he said.
Most of the elephants in the camp were rescued when they were calves.
As elephant is a social animal, the gathering would also give them a secure feeling, Mr. Anjan Kumar added.