Chennai: Following requests from the Pudhucherry government and Nagore dargah to include their captive elephants in the ongoing elephant rejuvenation camp, chief minister J. Jayalalithaa instructed the forest department on Tuesday to include two more elephants in the camp.
A total of 100 jumbos will now take part in the camp, and their mahouts will be also trained on handling their jumbos when they are tense.
A press release from the secretariat said he annual elephant rejuvenation camp, a pet initiative of the chief minister, will be held for 48 days and will start on December 19.
Following a request from the Puducherry government, the Tamil Nadu government has included Lakshmi, the elephant at Manakula Vinayakar temple in Puducherry. Apart from Lakshmi (23), Nagore dargah's elephant Fathima Beevi will also join the camp, the release said.
The camp includes a combination of rest, nutritious food and medical treatment. The release also emphasised that the camps were not held from 2006-11 during the DMK regime, and the idea was re-initiated after the AIADMK came to power in 2011.
According to wildlife sources, elephants unwilling to move or suffering from ailments will be treated at their original locations. Elephant Saravanan at Vandalur zoo boarded a lorry on Tuesday to reach Mettupalayam, where the transit camp is to be held at a cost of '1.53 crore.
The jumbos will be fed green fodder, jackfruit and Ayurvedic diet. The camp site was cleared of vegetation and fresh green fodder is cultivated for the pachyderms, sources added.
