March 23: Two members of a marauding elephant herd that once terrorised a cluster of villages in Karnataka are coming to New Town - tamed and trained - to take visitors on a "safari" inside the sprawling Eco Park.
The duo are part of a group of 15 elephants from the same captured herd that the Karnataka forest department is considering sending to Bengal at the state government's request, officials of the wildlife division said.
"They have already been trained but will undergo further training at Jaldapara, in north Bengal, before being deployed at Eco Park. The rest will remain there," Pradeep Vyas, principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden of the state, told Metro.
The pachyderm team's transformation from feared plunderers to gentle giants fit for safari duty apparently involved more than just the regulation boot camp training for captive jumbos. Not long ago, they had been part of a herd of about 30 that strayed into a barely 5sq km forested area at Alur, in Karnataka's Hassan district, and struck fear in residents of 80-odd villages.
The croplands surrounding this patch of forest being the source of the elephants' sustenance, instances of man-animal conflict were common. "Several people were trampled by the herd and each such killing would invariably trigger retaliation by the villagers in the form of electrocution traps," an official of the forest department said.
Since creating a reserved forest for the herd or relocating it elsewhere were not viable options because of the cost and other challenges, the herd's presence in Alur presented a litmus test in wildlife management. In October 2013, Karnataka High Court ordered the capture of the herd, based on the recommendation of a task force it had set up the previous year. The directive overruled a ban on capturing wild elephants that had been in force for four decades.
Many elephants have since been captured and trained in camps across Karnataka, although Alur has yet to be completely rid of its jumbo problem.
So, would elephants that used to run amok in Karnataka behave in Bengal? Principal chief conservator Vyas said his department would make sure the elephants designated for duty at Eco Park, Jaldapara, Jayanti and Lataguri were fully trained in safari etiquette before being deployed.
"Since the elephants are being trained in Karnataka, they would possibly be used to commands only in the local tongue. We would request their mahouts to work with our staff here for some time and train them properly at Jaldapara so that they understand commands in Bengali as well. Rest assured that the elephants would be screened for temperament before being brought to Bengal."
Sources in the forest department said Karnataka was struggling to accommodate its pachyderm population, both wild and captive. The southern state has one of the highest elephant populations in the country. When the last elephant census was done in 2012, Karnataka had 6,088 of them. In 2010, their population was 5,800.
Bengal seems convinced that Eco Park, spanning over 480 acres in New Town with a 104-acre water body and a man-made island as its centrepiece, has potential for an elephant safari. The park is already a very popular destination for Calcuttans and tourists, recording a footfall of more than 2 lakh on New Year's Day.
An elephant ambling along the park's pathways might be a sight to behold, but wildlife experts say there are risks involved in this. "Animals react to sudden movements. It is likely that an elephant would get disturbed if it sees someone gesturing violently or shouting," warned Satyananda Ghosh, a retired forester.
Debashis Sen, chairman and managing director of Hidco that runs Eco Park, said the idea of an elephant safari was "welcome" if the forest department deemed it feasible. Eco Park already has an enclosure near Gate No. 6 that houses barking and spotted deer.
The plan is to have a forest department team look after the elephants at a facility near the park. The mahouts hired to conduct the safari would also be staying there along with the other personnel.
