PATHANAMTHITTA: Forest department officials and people of Konni are jubilant as they got a new elephant calf named ‘Junior Surendran’ on Wednesday. The name ‘Surendran’ is emotionally close to the minds of the people and forest officials of Konni. Konni Elephant Camp had a majestic elephant named Konni Surendran, which was brought to the camp in 1999. It was then around six or seven months old and it was found standing near its dead mother at Rajampara in Ranni.
The calf stole the heart of elephant fans and forest officials in a short span of time as it had all the features of an elegant elephant. As it grew up, elephant lovers and tourists from different parts of the state started flowing to Konni to see the majestic tusker Surendran. He was also called ‘Thampurankutty’ by fans here.
But in June 2018, forest department shifted Konni Surendran to Muthanga for making it a Kumki elephant. Konni witnessed strong agitations and the then MLA Adoor Prakash even tried to prevent the shifting of Surendran.
But the forest department shifted Konni’s favourite tusker for Kumki training. Now the tusker is in Palakkad. Even in the last assembly polls, bringing Konni Surendran back was also a hot topic during electioneering. The arrival of Junior Surendran on Wednesday brought smiles to the faces of elephant lovers of Konni. The elephant calf was found alone in a lawn called Putharipadam close to forest area under Nilambur North Forest Division in Malappuram on March 13.
The baby elephant was found by children playing on the ground and it was shifted to Konni Elephant Camp for better care and protection on Wednesday.M Shamsudheen, who was the mahout of Konni Surendran for many years, said he was the favourite of all of them. “He had a special attraction and he had fans and a lot of visitors. It was a privilege for me to say that I was the mahout of Konni Surendran. Actually, we did not have words to describe our pain when Surendran was shifted from here for making him a Kumki elephant. Now the arrival of Junior Surendran has made us happy again.
“Junior Surendran arrived here on Wednesday morning and we are feeding him lactogen in bottles. He is tired because of long travel. He is very lean. I think the elephant calf was abandoned by its herd. Normally, a baby elephant is abandoned by its mother when it has any defects. But we cannot understand what the defect was. It will take long time for us to detect it,” said Satheesh Kumar S, beat forest officer, who is taking care of baby elephant.