Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has planned to deploy trained kumki elephants in strategic points to mitigate wildlife conflict in a bid to reduce potential loss of human and elephant lives.
The State forest and Environment Department has sought four trained jumbos from Tamil Nadu. The Southern State has a successful and commendable program in place, whereby kumki elephants are trained and utilized for wildlife conservation purposes.
Odisha Forest and Environment Secretary Satyabrat Sahu wrote to his Tamil Nadu counterpart Supriya Sahu seeking cooperation in this regard. He requested for four kumki elephants for deployment in conflict-prone areas of Odisha.
He also requested to provide mahouts taking care of those kumki elephants for only initial handholding support to State’s local mahouts to get them acquainted with those trained animals.
He mentioned that Kumki elephants can be deployed strategically to help manage and drive wild elephants thereby reducing damage to crops, human habitations and the potential loss of both human and elephant lives. These elephants can also be deployed for forest patrolling and rescue operations, the letter read.
The State Forest Department has plans to impart training to elephants which would be deployed in conflict zones.
PCCF (Wildlife) Susanta Nanda recently informed that Kumki training would be imparted to elephants in the State. Initially, the training programme will be held at four places– Chandaka, Satkosia, Kapilash and Similipal. Later, such programme will be undertaken at Debrigarh Sanctuary too. The elephants will be trained by expert mahouts who will be brought from other State, Nanda added.
