BENGALURU: Gopal, a 20-year-old kavadi (elephant keeper) died on Wednesday morning, after he fell off the elephant he was bathing in Seegakatte lake in Bannerghatta Biological Park.
Besides mahouts and kavadis attempting to fish out Gopal’s body, the BBP management also called for the fire and emergency services and police departments but their efforts went in vain. Finally, at around 4 pm, his body was extracted and was shifted to Victoria Hospital for postmortem.
Eye witnesses stated that Gopal was bathing his elephant Sampath (10) on the banks of the river and was seated on him. The elephant suddenly panicked, rose up and began to run into the water. Gopal, who was sitting on Sampath’s back when he got up, slipped into the water and was pushed further into the deep.
BBP Executive Director Surya Sen said, “This is the first time, an incident like this has happened. The lake where the elephants play and are given a bath is deep and always filled to the brim. However, today the lake was particularly slushy. It was also Gopal’s first job. Belonging to the family of Jainu Kurubas, his brother is also a kavadi in BBP and they are second-generation animal handlers, who work with the forest department. Gopal has been working with the BBP since the last two years and had a very good track record,” he added.
The animal keepers and veterinarians said, “It is unusual for such an incident to happen. Sampath is a very calm tusker, so much that people can go near him, even in the absence of his mahout or kavadi. It is surprising how he lost his cool. The incident happened when the truck carrying the elephant feed had reached the camp site. An elephant is usually bathed by at least 2-3 people. Usually, the elephants are very caring and protective, we cannot understand what went wrong,” they added.