Bhubaneswar: Chandaka wildlife sanctuary which is a rescue centre for orphaned elephants will send four of its elephant handlers and caregivers to Mudumalai, Tamil Nadu, for advanced Kumki training. The training is aimed at enhancing the skills of the personnel to handle Kumki elephants — the ones that are used to tame unruly or errant elephants.“The wildlife headquarters has written to Tamil Nadu wildlife wing urging it to provide kumki training to our personnel. In fact, our personnel are trained to handle elephants but they lack specialized training to handle kumki elephants. Very soon, we will send our personnel,” said DFO (Chandaka sanctuary) Binod Acharya.Wildlife officials said Kumki elephants are also used to monitor tigers and tranquilise aggressive elephants. The department needs trained mahouts to train the elephants. The govt has already sanctioned post of mahouts and assistant mahouts, officials said. “Normal mahouts also need special kumki training. Once these four personnel receive the training, they will be able to train others,” the DFO added.Kumki elephants are also required because tiger population in Similipal is increasing and elsewhere and the big cats are dispersing. “It is necessary to keep kumki elephants ready to track the dispersing elephants and tigers. It is the trained elephants and trained personnel, who give the best support to such tracking of tigers and elephants,” a wildlife officer said.In Feb, the wildlife wing had written to its Karnataka counterpart urging it to provide four Kumki elephants to Odisha, but the latter is yet to confirm if kumki elephants will be given, officials said.Officials said in recent years, state faced challenges in mitigating man-elephant conflicts. The need of kumki elephants was felt necessary to address the conflicts. “The elephants can be used for patrolling and monitoring. But we are yet to get a response from Karnataka although I had requested for a prompt consideration of my proposal to give 5-6 kumki elephants with mahouts,” said chief wildlife warden Prem Kumar Jha.
