Karnataka Hands Over Six Kumki Elephants to AP
The Kumki elephants, trained to drive rogue elephants away from human settlements and farmlands, aim to mitigate crop damage and human fatalities caused by wild elephants in Andhra Pradesh.
Bengaluru: Karnataka handed over six trained Kumki elephants to Andhra Pradesh to address escalating human-elephant conflicts in border districts like Chittoor, Tirupati, Annamayya, and Parvathipuram Manyam on Wednesday. The ceremonial transfer, held at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre, and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan were participated in the ceremonial event.
Four elephants were sourced from Dubare camp in Kodagu, and two, named Abhimanyu and Krishna (both around 20 years old), from Sakrebailu camp in Shivamogga. The transfer follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in September 2024 between Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala to share best practices for managing wild elephant populations.
