Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh government has decided to train its own elephants as kumkis, what with the inordinate delay in getting four kumki elephants from Karnataka.
Kumkis are captive elephants that are trained to tame wild elephants, which enter human habitations abutting forests and destroy crops, apart from attacking people.
Forest department has identified two elephants housed within the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati and another at Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam. These three elephants will be trained to turn into kumki elephants.
Significantly, these three elephants had once been wild and strayed into human settlements. Forest authorities captured and moved them to the zoos.
Incidentally, AP does have kumki elephants, one each stationed in Tirupati and Nandyal. But they have reached the advanced age of 60 years and are to be retired.
Realising this, forest authorities have already started training the identified elephants of Tirupati zoo for turning them into kumkis. The training of the elephant in the Visakhapatnam zoo is yet to start.
With this, Andhra Pradesh will have three kumki elephants of its own. Forest authorities are drawing up plans to develop camps near the wildlife areas, where they will be accommodated and used on the basis of need.
Sources said a kumki elephant holding area could be developed on a temporary basis in Parvathipuram Manyam district by using ₹3 crore of funds from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
Wild elephants have been a cause of concern to AP government, as they have been destroying crops and attacking villagers, at times even causing fatalities, in parts of Manyam, Chittoor, Tirupati and Annamayya districts of the state.
State government had entered into a deal with Karnataka to get kumki elephants. AP’s forest officers, mahouts and kavadis had also recently received training in Karnataka on handling kumkis.
Additional principal chief conservator of forests Shantipriya Pande said, “We are expecting the arrival of kumki elephants from Karnataka soon. However, we are also training our own elephants to become kumkis to deal with the elephant menace in parts of AP to avoid loss of life and crops.”
