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Bhubaneswar, July 7: The kunki training centre at Kumarkhunti inside the Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary received two more elephants yesterday. The two elephants — Jasoda, 20, and Shankar ,17 — were brought in from the Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Angul district. With these new additions, the centre now has four elephants undergoing training.
Kunki, an Assamese term, refers to an elephant, used to prevent marauding herds from destroying crops and property. Earlier, Nandan, 27, and Rajkumar, 9, were undergoing the kunki training by trainers from Assam.
While Nandan had been kept in confinement at the Nandankanan zoo after killing its own mahout (elephant driver) in 1997, it was brought to the training centre on October 25, 2010. Following the training, its behaviour has undergone a distinct change and the elephant has developed a love for the jungle. Rajkumar has been brought from the Similipal Biosphere Reserve and according to forest department officers, both the elephants have developed a nice bonding among themselves.
Master kunki trainer from Assam, Dipen Kalita said: “The induction of two new elephants will make a complete family and also add to their learning process.” Divisional forest officer, Akshaya Patnaik said: “While Nandan is a grown-up elephant, it also needs a companion. Therefore, Jasoda will contribute towards filling the gap. If we consider the four as a family, Jasoda, as the lead female, will act like a perfect caretaker and the three other male members will be living with her and sharing their experiences in their own style of communication. Elephants are intelligent animals and they communicate just like human beings.”
“The local trainers and their helpers are also working on the entire herd. The elephants can compete with each other to show better learning abilities. It will give rise to healthy competition among themselves and also add to faster learning environment,” Patnaik said.
Kalita said a ‘rouge’ Nandan, brought from Nandankanan, had a wayward life in the past. But now, he is expected to learn the meaning of relationship and other younger elephants in the group will also follow suit.
Earlier, the kunki training process was planned at isolated centres across the state. But now, the forest department had decided to make it central at Kumarkhunti inside the Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary, sources said. Another senior officer of the Nandankanan Biological Park said: “The kunki training centre at Kumarkhunti is just like a commando training centre for elephants. They will ultimately help the forest people in managing the straying ones from the jungle.”
With four elephants under training, three forest department officers are engaged for each animal, making it 12 at Kumarkhunti. Apart from four mahouts, there are four assistant mahouts and four helpers.
The forest officer said more elephants would be added to the kunki training centre at Kumarkhunti to produce more elephants to manage the marauding jumbos.
