Jumbos for Guj, Mysuru bids tearful adieu

NT Correspondent

Mysuru: The Mysore royal family bid a tearful adieu to four rescued elephants which were shifted to the Elephant Rehabilitation Centre at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

A total of six elephants were rescued from a circus company nearly 25 years ago, and were maintained by the Wadiyar family. As the royal family found it difficult to maintain them due to the sharp dip in tourist flow to Mysuru owing to the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, they requested the state government to help out in this regard.

After obtaining permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden of Gujarat, four pachyderms were shifted to Jamnagar in the special multi-axle trucks, from the palace premises. Sita (36), Ruby (44), Gemini (31) and Rajeshwari (27) have been transported to Gujarat while Chanchala and Preethi have been retained in Mysuru. The four jumbos refused to get into the trucks since they have been living in Mysuru for more than two decades. Tears rolled down their cheeks as the trucks left for Gujarat from Mysuru Palace.

In the 1990s, the government had rescued six elephants from a circus company following complaints from animal activists. Those elephants were given shelter in the sprawling palace premises. A few of them were used for a jolly ride which fetched income for the caretakers.

Later, the health of the pachyderms and their maintenance became a ‘jumbo’ problem for the Wadiyars. In the meantime, a nationwide campaign was launched for the protection of elephants in palaces owned by erstwhile royal families. Responding to this, Pramodadevi Wadiyar, wife of late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, wrote to the state government in 2017 requesting the government to take back at least three of the total six elephants. The government conceded her request and issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the Chief Wildlife Warden of Gujarat to take away four elephants to the Elephant Rescue Centre in Gujarat. However, it required the nod of Chief Wildlife Warden of the Karnataka Forest Department. On December 9, the Karnataka CWW granted permission and on Wednesday, four special multi-axle trucks were brought to transport four elephants from Mysuru to Jamnagar, a distance of over 3,500 km.