Rehab, a mammoth task

lThe world-class rehab centre touted to come up in the district still hangs in balance lThe centre aims to rehabilitate injured, rogue and abandoned elephants
Pachyderms at the Elephant Rehabilitation Center at Kappukadu in Kottoor   Manu R Mavelil
Pachyderms at the Elephant Rehabilitation Center at Kappukadu in Kottoor  Manu R Mavelil

TIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Forest Department’s initiative to calm and sooth the frayed nerves of the mighty jumbos, including those in captivity that were  chained and exploited like slaves over the years, besides the sick, abandoned and rogue crop raiders captured from the forest fringe  areas, by rehabilitating them with world-class facilities at a rehab centre to be developed in Thiruvananthapuram, seem to be taking longer than expected. 

The department’s attempt to select a government-accredited executing agency to set up the state-of-the-art elephant rehabilitation centre at  Kottoor  in Agasthyavanam Biological Park Range, under Thiruvananthapuram Wildlife Division, has received a feeble response when the department floated the technical bid it  received for executing the work listed in the DPR of the project, the other day.Only the State Housing Board has approached the department to upgrade the rehab centre at Kappukad to international standards at cost of Rs 105 crore, funded by Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).

Y M Shajikumar, Wildlife Warden, Thiruvananthapuram, and chief executive officer of Neyyar-Peppara Forest Development Agency, the special vehicle for the project, said the department would seek  the financial bid only after inspecting the technical bid submitted by the Board. “We hope the Board would meet the requirements listed in the technical bid. If not, the department will have to seek other options including re-tendering,” he said.

According to the department officials, the project was conceived after a steep rise in complaints related to the torture and ill-treatment meted out to the captive elephants and rise in man-elephant conflicts in the forest fringe areas in the state.The recent past presents a dismal picture of declining sentiments towards elephants, while in the forest fringes, the incidents of retaliatory attack on wild elephants are on a steady rise. 

Besides, there are reported cases of torture and ill-treatment of elephants in captivity under the ownership of individuals and Devaswoms. All such injured, rogue, ill-treated, sick and orphaned elephants, both rescued and captured, have been nurturing in elephant camps and rescue rehabilitation centres as releasing them further in the wild was only a distant possibility.

And in this backdrop, the government decided to upgrade the rehab centre at Kappukad to a state-of-the-art elephant rehabilitation centre of international standards at cost of Rs 105 crore funded by KIIFB. It is envisaged that this Centre would provide required amenities to house, treat and nurture captive /sick /injured /orphaned /rescued elephants including calves and aged ones as well as rogue elephants in near natural environment with facilities for free roaming, foraging and health care. The Centre will also act as a place for public awareness, training mahouts in captive elephant management, research and visitation, said officials.

Facilities to be set up

  •     Enclosure for elephants (closed enclosures, Kraals and near natural enclosures)
  •     Elephant bathing area
  •     Elephant natural history museum
  •     Speciality veterinary clinic
  •    Research, training and skill development centre
  •     Elephant dung recycling and zero waste unit
  •    Visitor facilities/amenities and facilities for awareness creation
  •     Developing regular natural/artificial fodder availability area
  •    Developing infrastructure including building for administrative/office facilities
  •     Facilities for housing mahouts and staff
  •     Developing facility for ensuring round the year water availability
  •    Construction of protection structures (gate, watch towers etc at strategic locations, walkways and erecting solar fence around the elephant rehabilitation centre.

Main objectives
lTo provide near natural environment for the elephants in captivity aided with other necessary living conditions
l    Provide adequate free-ranging space to enable elephants to move, bathe, and forage in the wilderness as well as socialize and mingle as herds/groups, under the care of mahouts
l    Provide state-of-the-art in-house veterinary care and treatment facilitate recovery for ailing elephants
l    To provide waste management and recycling facility in the Centre to get rid of the elephant dung, other biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes making the centre zero waste zone

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