Jumbo Ferries Saving Marooned Villagers

Jumbos of North Bengal have become the only means of transportation for people of flood-hit villages near Gorumara National Park under Jalpaiguri Forest Division with most villages having turned into a watery island.

In Gairkata, one such village affected by the flood, Phulmati and Surya, two captive elephants of the national park have been working non-stop to relocate the stranded villagers. The situation here became more severe after the bridge on the Kutchi Diana river too collapsed.

The two elephants are not only taking children to school on their back everyday but also recently saved the life of an expectant mother Pinki Oraon by crossing the 500 m river and taking her in time to the hospital. Looking at their heroic efforts, the state forest department has decided to award the two pachyderms.

Local villager, Dibyendu Deb recalls, “She was in labour when Phulmati carried her to the nearest hospital in time which saved her life. We were amazed to see the coordination between the two elephants. While Phulmati made sure that the patient was safe on her back, Surya moved ahead of his mate taking the tide in his stride making safe passage for Phulmati.”

Gairkata is flanked with Mountains from all sides, the other side of the hill range being Bhutan. Rivers and streams from the mountains keep passing through the village. The bridge that connected the village to the city of Jalpaiguri collapsed on 17 July and since then the villagers had no connection with the town.

“The villagers, particularly those from Gairkata, were in dire straits, but the jumbos have come as a saviour,” said Sumita Ghatak, DFO, Wildlife II, Jalpaiguri forest division. “Realising their plight, particularly those of students caught in the middle of exam season, we decided to deploy the captive elephants for the first time in such a kind of work,” she  said.

Deb can’t thank the jumbos enough.

“Everyday nearly 50-60 children are ferried by these jumbos in turns. The river is in spate, the tides are strong and it is incredible to see how they carry them on their backs so gingerly.”

The credit for training the two captive elephants goes to mahout Dinbandhu Burman. Surya was brought from the jungles of Medinipur in 1995 as a baby that got separated from its herd. Phulmati, on the other hand, was rescued from Assam. Burman had been specially brought in from Tamil Nadu for the Gorumara Elephant Camp.

More Related Stories,

Rajan, the Sea Faring Elephant of Andaman

First Centre to Help Captive Elephants of India

Karnataka Learns Lessons from Africa to Reduce Man-Elephant Conflict

Reference

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Atula Gupta is the Founder and Editor of indiasendangered.com. Her work has appeared in a number of international websites, dailies and magazines including The Wire, Deccan Herald, New Indian Express, Down to Earth and Heritage India on issues related to environment and its conservation. She is also the author of Environment Science Essentials, a set of books for school children. She hopes this website provides a platform for people to be aware about species in the verge of extinction and heighten their conservation efforts.
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