The trend of lining up fibre elephants catch up among the festival organisers.
Thrissur: As visitors start arriving here on Wednesday for a DTPC event showcasing the cultural heritage of Thrissur, they will be greeted by five caparisoned elephants on the Swaraj ground, all made of fibre.
Experts say the trend of lining up fibre elephants is slowly catching up among the festival organisers on the belief that it would add glitz to these events.
“We first introduced these elephants along with orginal accoutrement earlier in December at the Karthiayani Devi temple in Ayyanthol and this was followed by another event at the Paramekkavu temple last week. We are now receiving inquiries for booking them even outside Thrissur”', said Ramachandran, owner of RC Decorations.
What started just as an experiment is now fetching around Rs 5000 per booking.
However, festival organisors hold that these elephants could in no way replace the live pachyderms.
“They can never be a proxy to live pachyderms as far as the customs and traditions associated with a festival are concerned. But they can be used as an addition'', observed a member of the festival coordination committee in Thrissur.
Next: RAF to help check jumbo menace
RAF to help check jumbo menace
Thrissur: In view of the rising number of elephant attacks in the region, the forest department has sought the assistance of Rapid Action Force to check the trend. A unit of RAF will start operations at Malakkapara hill station on Tuesday.
The settlers in the tribal belts of Malakkappara and Valpparai bordering Tamil Nadu face wild animals attack.
According to Abdul Nazerkunju, Vazhachal divisional forest officer, the department had to ensure that people and their livelihood did not suffer anymore as the wild elephants straying into human habitations and destroying crops and shops had become a routine affair in the hilly regions of the district.
The forest department was finding it difficult to depute more forest personnel to the affected areas for the protection of tribal people and their livelihood because of staff shortage, he added. A herd of jumbos had damaged shops and buildings a few days ago.
The tribes in the area said the jumbos appeared to be nocturnal.
