The eight persons including four elephant mahouts, three kavadis and a forest veterinary inspector were earlier selected. The Tamil Nadu Government had allocated Rs 40 lakh for the purpose of training the elephant care workers.
The Nilgiris: Eight persons, including elephant mahouts, kavadis and a veterinary inspector from Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the Nilgiris district have left for Thailand to get special training on elephant care and rehabilitation measures.
The 28 captive Kumki elephants, which are being maintained in the Theppakadu Elephant Camp at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve are used in many tasks including capturing and relocating wild elephants.. The Irula and Kurumba tribal communities are engaged in the work of tending those elephants with round- the- clock care.
The Kumki elephants are so trained to take command from these mahouts and obeying their orders. Each elephant is looked after by a mahout and a helper called kavadi.
According to sources the team of eight will be trained to adopt many new techniques in elephant care and rehabilitation.
The eight persons including four elephant mahouts, three kavadis and a forest veterinary inspector were earlier selected. The Tamil Nadu Government had allocated Rs 40 lakh for the purpose of training the elephant care workers.
The eight persons, including Forest Veterinary inspector Ramesh, Elephant mahout Suresh, T.M. Bomman, C.M. Bomman, Kavadis Kullan, Kethan, Sivan and Kalan left for Chennai from Mudumalai to board the flight to Thailand. They are flying from Chennai to Thailand today.
The team will be staying at a captive elephant training camp in Thailand from February 6 to 11 to learn new techniques and global practices and strategies on how to handle kumki elephants effectively.