Three of the six elephants that were tranquillised and caught in Tiruvannamalai forests were brought to the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) here on Friday.
The three jumbos, including a 22 year old female and two males aged 10 and 12 years, arrived at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve safely around 1.30 p.m. The pachyderms were made to alight from trucks with the help of mahouts, kavadis (assistants) and forest officials.
“Everything is fine and there is nothing to worry about the new visitors to the Mudumalai forest. The elephants did not create any trouble throughout the long journey to Mudumalai, said Mudumalai Ranger Pushphakaran. Officials have accommodated the trio from Tiruvannamalai in new kraals located 10 km from the Theppakadu camp as a safety measure.
As already 24 elephants were being trained at the Theppakadu camp, it was decided to take the Tiruvannamalai jumbos to the new kraal built in the forest. Mahouts and kavadis have been deputed to train and tame the new elephants.
Forest sources said, “Initially the wild elephants may refuse to take the feed from mahouts. But in the course of time they will become hungry and accept food such as sugarcane and jackfruit. Then the elephants and mahouts will get acquainted with each other. Mahouts will command as masters and elephants obey as servants in the new environment. Normally it will take a minimum of one-and-a-half months for the mahouts to train the wild elephants. Even rogue elephants had been trained in the same camp within two months in the past. Once these elephants are fully trained to, the trio will be shifted to the usual Theppakadu elephant camp. After that, they will be christened for identification in the camp adding the number of trained elephants to 27.”