Bist with one of the five elephants sent to Dudhwa on Wednesday. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

Jaldapara (Alipurduar), March 19: Rahul and Devi are doing well in Japan and their new keepers are quickly learning the finer points of elephant management, said one of the two mahouts who accompanied the animals to the land of the rising sun almost three months ago.

The two young, trained elephants, who grew up in Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, have been sent to Okinawa Kids Discovery Kingdom in Japan in exchange for six blue sheep and four Himalayan tahr that will be kept at Darjeeling zoo.

Kharke Bahadur from Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary was one of the two mahouts who went to Okinawa with Rahul and Devi. He returned a week or so ago.

“The elephants are doing very well. There are four keepers for the two elephants. We trained them over the 70 days we were there. All four are very serious and learnt quickly,” said Bahadur at the Holong pilkhana (elephant stable) today.

The mahout added that there is a doctor for the elephants at the zoo. “It is quite cold out there and the elephants are kept inside concrete rooms at night although during the day they move around within the park.”

Bahadur said he and his colleague have taught the Japanese keepers how to give the elephants various instructions. “There is no shortage of food either.”

The chief wildlife warden of Bengal, S.S. Bist spoke to Bahadur today and asked him about Rahul and Devi. “Yoshingla Nashikawa, the director of the Okinawa zoo, has given certificates to both the mahouts, in appreciation of their service,” Bist said.

Jumbos off to UP

This evening, five trained elephants from Jaldapara started off for Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to help forest officials monitor the rhino and tiger habitats there.

Three of them — Madhu, Gajraj and Mohonlal — are male, while the other two — Chameli and Srilochona — are female. All of them are aged between five and 11 years. The animals were loaded on trucks with ration for a few days and sent off to Uttar Pradesh.