Efforts On To Bring Captured/Tamed Elephants To Centuries Old K.Gudi /Budipadaga Camps
Ruling out shutting down the camps in BRT, a senior official of Biligiriranganatha Swamy Temple tiger reserve told Deccan Chronicle on Wednesday “Efforts will be made to get tamed/captured elephants to K.Gudi and draw the attention of the State Government.
BENGALURU: Two elephant camps established during the rule of erstwhile Maharajas of Mysore era-Kyatadevara Gudi and Budipadaga falling under Biliranganatha Swamy Temple tiger reserve in Chamarajanagar district wore a deserted look on Wednesday after its lone tamed elephant Gajendra, 63, was translocated to Mathigodu Elephant Camp in Kodagu. Earlier Gajendra was accommodated at K. Gudi camp before recently shifted to Budipadaga camp which was revived a couple of years back.
Ruling out shutting down the camps in BRT, a senior official of Biligiriranganatha Swamy Temple tiger reserve told Deccan Chronicle on Wednesday “Efforts will be made to get tamed/captured elephants to K.Gudi and draw the attention of the State Government. We need a dedicated wildlife veterinarian to run the K. Gudi Elephant Camp.”
On Tuesday, Gajendra was translocated to Mathigodu after animal lovers made a plea to Minister of Forests and Environment Eshwar Khandre to initiate steps to shift the aged elephant leading a solitary life at the camp. Gajendra was famous among forest officers as ‘K. Gudi Gajendra’ and he was a regular participant in Mysore Dasara festivities before he was rested.
Malleshappa, a State Wildlife Board member said, the camp at K. Gudi once had several captured elephants and their numbers came down gradually. The last remaining jumbo was Gajendra. A veterinarian who had worked in BRT said “There were 10 tamed elephants at K.Gudi at one time and their numbers dropped to 5 and later to two.”
While other elephant camps in Karnataka have good number of tamed elephants but K. Gudi lost most of them after State Government did not evince to send some of the captured elephants in man-animal conflict areas to the camp at K. Gudi and the reason attributed by sources for K.Gudi losing tamed elephants was after Gajendra killed Dasara howdah carrying elephant Srirama in a fight and a mahout identified as Ganapathi
A source said “There was a proposal to bring about 5 tamed elephants to K. Gudi but that did not materialise” and the source added “Keeping tamed elephants in K. Gudi camp would help immensely to press them into action to drive a straying tiger/elephant out of the reserve instead of sending tamed elephants specialized in driving straying wild animals from camps in Bandipur Tiger Reserve which will consume a lot of time.”
