13 year old Parvathi, looked quite happy boarding her truck as she looked forward to the 48 day rejuvenation camp planned for her at the cool Madumalai forests. The resident elephant of the famous Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple will join 34 more temple elephants to roam in the wilderness and relax at the Theppakadu elephant camp by the gushing Moyar river in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu.
The elephant camp has been approved by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jaylalitha who revived the effort after a gap of five years.
The other temple elephants include ten elephants from Tirunelveli and districts down South, four from Thanjavur, four from Madurai and others from different parts of the state. These elephants will be accompanied by their mahouts and vets.
According to temple authorities, the elephants had already been screened and certified disease-free and transported as per the guidelines. Apart from de-worming, the elephants were given anthrax vaccines too.
The Theppakadu camp already has a group of resident elephants and so as not to allow interaction with the visitors, these pachyderms have been moved at a temporary camp across the river.
Once all the temple elephants arrive at the camp they will be given a an anti-viral bath and walk through patches of bleaching and lime powder to be infection free. They will then be moved to their own secluded space where they can roam freely and enjoy the wilderness.
The move has been especially planned to take them away from humans who constantly interact with them at the temple grounds. As these elephants might be at risk if left freely in the wild, the camp is also a way to allow them forest experience but also protecting them for the reserve’s wild animals including tigers.
Forest veterinians also noted that the elephants will be given green fodder including sugar cane, sorghum and cariota leaves while they stay and enjoy their holiday.
Elelphants are revered like a diety in India especially in Southern states where numerous temples have at least one resident elephant. During temple ceremonies, religious processions and other important functions the elephants are decked up and are an important part of the ceremony. During daily temple visits to worshippers make it a point to pay their obesience to the elephant too.
The traditions help in a way to save the animal which is fast losing its home in the Indian forests. Wild elephants are constantly under threat from humans encroaching their lands.
But while most temples do take care of the jumbo quite well, the daily rituals are still stressful with constant hoards of worshippers crowding around the animal. The rejuvantation camp is therefore, the time for the animals to break free and relax in an ambience they can relate to.
The idea for the elephant holiday camp came from senior officials in Chennai following reports that many of the animals had started behaving badly by attacking their mahouts due to overwork.
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Reference and Photo: The Hindu
Nice to know .. Good job
It is a fantastic effort but would be even better if the elephants were given full freedom rather than being stuck in the temples.