BENGALURU: A team of Karnataka Forest Department officials, lead by Forest, Environment and Ecology Minister Eshwar B Khandre, will visit Vijayawada to meet Andhra Pradesh DyCM Pawan Kalyan on Friday to discuss sending trained camp elephants from Karnataka to the neighbouring state and also train mahouts there. Senior forest officials, however, said no decision has been taken on handing over the elephants.
“We are going to Andhra to sign an MoU on training mahouts to train camp elephants and in capturing wild elephants,” an official said. He said multiple discussions on improving and strengthening wildlife corridors, reducing conflict and other issues will be held.
During the visit, agreements will be signed between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on elephant capture operations, taming and knowledge exchange on forest resources and conservation initiatives. “We have also decided that henceforth we will not hand over any of our camp elephants unless our criterion are met.
We cannot be giving our trained elephants and mahouts to other states. We will also send elephants in groups as they are social animals and share a bond. We do not want our elephants to suffer depression, anxiety and other issues,” the official added.
Another Karnataka forest official said that there is one elephant camp in Vijayawada that houses three elephants. “The camp area is also small. They also do not have sufficient trained mahouts. Our department mahouts and staffers will help in this regard,” the official added.