BENGALURU: Karnataka handed over four partially trained (kumki) elephants to Andhra Pradesh at a grand ceremony at the Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday. Two more elephants will be given to AP in the coming days. The elephants were handpicked, based on their behaviour and skills, by a team of officials from Karnataka and AP. The bulls, their mahouts and kawadis were sent to a special camp in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh for further training. The mahouts and kawadis will train their counterparts in AP.
Forest, Environment and Ecology Minister Eshwar B Khandre said the elephants were sent to AP to support that state’s efforts to conserve and mitigate man-elephant conflict. “I had meetings with AP Deputy Chief Minister and Forest Minister Pawan Kalyan in August and September last. As per an MoU, we decided to hand over the elephants as gifts to AP,” Khandre said.
As per the MoU, AP has to give Karnataka regular reports on the elephants’ health and their upkeep. A senior forest official said, “Karnataka is sending elephants to another state after a gap of two years.” From 2016, Karnataka sent over 65 elephants to Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Maharashtra was the last state to receive three elephants.
“We have over 100 elephants in our camps. The six elephants given to AP are from Kodagu’s Dubare elephant camp, which houses 35. We capture the elephants in conflict and train them. The space to house such elephants is getting reduced. We are ready to send trained elephants to other states if they are keen on taking care of them,” the official said. Kalyan said, “We did not expect Karnataka to give us elephants. They will be used to capture the elephants in conflict in Kupam and Palakundalam regions. I promise Karnataka that we will take good care of the elephants, and if anything goes wrong, you can take action against us.”
Two months ago, Karnataka organised a training camp in which around 25 mahouts from AP participated. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said, “Karnataka has many trained elephants which can be given to other states to help mitigate man-elephant conflict.”
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said conflict mitigation is not just the task of the forest department. People of Karnataka and its neighbouring states, which share reserve forests, should support it.
Details of elephants
Krishna, 15 years old, was captured in Chikkamagaluru in 2022. Mahout Siddiq Pasha and Kawadi Rahman Pasha
Abhimanyu, 14, was captured in Davangere in 2023; Accompanied by mahout Manjunatha and kawadi Rakesh
Ranjan, 26, was born in Dubare elephant camp, is accompanied with mahout JP Suresh and kawadi- JU Shivu
Deva, 38, was captured in Kushalnagar, Coorg in 2019 is accompanied by mahout Girisha and kawadi Abhi
Elephants yet to go
Karna, 32, was captured from Madikeri
Masthi, 24, was captured from Coorg