Two out of four tuskers from Karnataka will join Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR), Maharashtra patrolling team soon as both elephants are arriving in Nagpur till next week to handle critical issues like man-animal conflict and wildlife rescue operations. The wildlife wing had a dream to have a self sustained and independent elephant camp for rescue operations and patrolling will finally be a reality by the week-end. Though the elephants were supposed to arrive in Nagpur by September end, the delay helped the Forest Department to set up a camp with full arrangements for the jumbos. The wildlife wing had been raising the demand for a fleet of tuskers with trained Mahouts to boost patrolling and rescue work for long. However, for some issue the bosses overlooked it. During the rescue of big cats, the Forest Department always relied on elephants from Madhya Pradesh. Four jumbos, including three male, ‘Bhima’ (30), ‘Subramanaya’ (29), ‘Ranjan’ (25) and a female elephant, from Karnataka’s Motigodu and Dubare camps will join the PTR patrolling team in the next few months.

 

“We have completed all formalities and arrangements to bring them to our forest. ‘Bhima’ and ‘Subramanaya’ will come first. They have started from the camp in Karnataka on Saturday afternoon. It will take about 5 days for them to reach Nagpur,” Dr Prabhunath Shukla, Deputy Director, PTR told ‘The Hitavada’. The third male tusker ‘Ranjan’ will arrive in the city next month and the forth one, which is a female, will arrive after a couple of months, said Shukla. The forest department established two protection camps in Chorbaoli Forest Range of PTR for these elephants. The Borban camp situated on the banks of Lower Pench dam will be the next home to these four elephants. The other camp which is close to the Borban camp will accommodate more elephants in future.

 

“The camps are deep inside the forest with less human intervention. It has kitchen, storage, medicine and medical supplies, micro chipping and other facilities,” Shukla added. Along with these two elephants, their Mahouts are also coming from Karnataka whereas our trained team of Mahouts and care takers are already ready to receive these jumbos at the camp,” said the Deputy Director. “Elephants are very helpful for patrolling in areas where even vehicles don’t have access. In tiger rescue, these elephants will play a pivotal role. We can use them for eco-tourism purposes also,” said Shukla. The Department felt the requirement of elephants for these tasks during the rescue operation of T1 tigress (Avni). Then, the Department had brought elephants from Madhya Pradesh. “The project cost is Rs 80 lakh and we have sought funds under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA),” Shukla added.