Bhubaneswar, March 16: Three elephant calves reached Kumarkhunti facility within Chandaka wildlife division on Friday for Kunki training.
The three elephants – thirteen-year-old Kartik, eleven-year-old Uma and fifteen-year-old Chandu have been brought to Kumarkhunti from Kapilash sanctuary in Dhenkanal.
Kartika was rescued from a pit in Athagarh forest on July 7, 2010. The forest officials rescued it after mother elephant and her herd failed to rescue. However, the herd did not accept it following which Kartika was brought to Kapilash rehabilitation centre in Dhenkanal.
Similarly, Uma's mother and her herd did not accept the baby elephant after its rescue from a well in Sarangi forest division in Dhenkanal. Chandu was rescued from Bargarh forest division on December 24, 2011.
Mahouts from Assam, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will train the elephant calves. They will also guide the forest staff of the state on ways to train the captive elephants as Kunkis, said a forest department official.
After training they will assist forest department in capturing, calming and herding wild elephants and drive them away in conflict situations. ‘Kunki’ is a trained captive elephant used in operations to capture wild ones. The jumbos are sometimes also engaged to rescue or provide medical treatment to an injured or trapped wild elephant, the official added.
