Eight jumbos moved to Bandipur camp

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Eight elephants which were under the care of a woman in Kodagu for the last 18 years have been shifted to Ramapura elephant camp in Bandipur National Park in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district.

According to forest department sources, Pragna Chautha had been in possession of eight elephants in her farm, adjacent to Dubare Elephant Camp. Local people complained to the department that the elephant owner was keeping the jumbos chained in the morning and freeing them at night. The elephants were feeding on the standing crops in the nearby areas.

When the pressure mounted, the senior forest officer of Kodagu district wrote to Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Chief Wildlife Warden regarding the shifting of the elephants to the elephant camp. The PCCF agreed for its relocation to different elephant camps in the State. However, Chautha requested the PCCF to keep them together at one place as they had grown up together and sending them to different camps would affect the elephant’s mental health.

Considering her request, the PCCF asked the Kodagu forest officers to shift all eight elephants to Ramapura elephant camp in Bandipur.

On Friday, those pachyderms were loaded into trucks and taken to Ramapura camp. Of the eight jumbos, five are female, two are male and one is a calf.