Jumbo patrolling in Pench
| Date :07-Jun-2024 |
Staff Reporter
Almost six months after they arrived at Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR), the two elephants from Karnataka’s Borban Elephant Camp have been engaged in PTR’s rescue and patrolling activities. The elephants -- Bhima and Subhramaniyam -- now adapted to Nagpur’s climate, have also got familiar with the new mahout and other staff, PTR
Deputy Director Dr Prabhunath Shukla told ‘The Hitavada’. “To promote eco-tourism in Chorbaoli forest range, we are allowing tourists to feed the jumbos in their camp and also click selfies with them,” said Dr Shukla. Elephants are helpful in tiger rescue and patrolling deep inside the forest. There are many spots within PTR where we have no approach roads. These two elephants are used to patrol such spots. “After some time, we will also start elephant safari also on some routes of the jungle,” Shukla added.
A team consisting of veterinarians, mahout and care-takers of the elephants recently visited Madhya Pradesh (MP) to train in handling the jumbos. MP has elephants which are effectively performing patrolling and tiger rescue work for a long time. Now, a team from MP is also coming to PTR to train the team in rescue operations and also to train the elephants, Shukla informed ‘The Hitavada’. The tuskers arrived in Nagpur last year from Dubare Elephant Camp at Madikeri in Karnataka.
The Forest Department established two protection camps in Chorbaoli Forest Range of PTR for these elephants. The Borban Camp is situated on the banks of Navegaon Khairi dam and the other camp is also situated close to the Borban Camp. The second camp will accommodate more elephants in future. The camps are deep inside the forest with less human intervention. It has kitchen, storage, medicines and medical supplies, micro chipping and other facilities for elephants.