Yearly, August 12 is noticed as World Elephant Day to carry the highlight on defending one of the vital magnificent animals to stroll the earth. This yr, Coimbatore performed host to the celebrations organised by the Ministry of Setting, Forest and Local weather Change (MoEF&CC), in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Forest Division. With mitigating human-elephant battle on the centre of the celebrations, the occasion introduced collectively prime officers from the MoEF&CC, the Forest Division, frontline workers who work tirelessly within the subject, and mahouts who look after elephants. Listed here are some highlights from the occasion.
Honouring unsung heroes
Gaj Gaurav Awards had been instituted to seven subject workers and mahouts from throughout India in recognition of their work in elephant conservation. S Karthikeyan, Forest Guard and M Murali Anti-Poaching Watcher, each from Dharmapuri Circle, had been the awardees from Tamil Nadu. Thirty-four-year-old Murali has been actively concerned in dangerous elephant rescue operations throughout Forest Circles, whereas Karthikeyan was honoured for patrols alongside areas of man-elephant battle to watch animal motion. In April this yr, he rescued injured elephants on the Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary.
An adandoned child elephant on the Theppakadu Elephant Camp, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
| Picture Credit score:
SATHYAMOORTHY M
“Elephants getting into human habitation are inclined to fall into open wells when agitated, particularly at night time after they attempt to raid crops,” says 32-year-old Karthikeyan. He has noticed this up shut in villages on the fringes of forests in Hosur. “Some folks mild firecrackers to chase elephants that enterprise into their fields,” he says, including: “There are a number of open, deserted wells within the area, and the animals get damage after they slip and fall.” He recollects the current rescue of 1 such elephant by his staff of ten. “I urge folks residing close to forests to surround wells with partitions for the sake of elephants,” he says.
With love, from Gudalur
Gudalur-based socio-environmental enterprise The Actual Elephant Collective, identified for crafting life-size elephants manufactured from lantana, had displayed a handful of elephants constructed by tribal folks from villages in and round Gudalur within the Nilgiri hills. However what stood aside was a small assortment of animal and chicken miniatures, carried out with impeccable consideration to element.
From The Actual Elephant Collective’s assortment
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Particular association
“Now we have 16 items as a part of the gathering, together with 5 birds, eight animals, and timber and bushes,” says Tariq Thekaekara from the Collective. They’ve been sculpted by hand with wooden from Senna Spectabilis, an invasive plant that poses a serious menace to the Nilgiri biosphere, eliminated with help from the Forest Division.
Whereas the staff’s lantana elephants have travelled the world — they’ve been displayed within the UK, US, other than a number of cities in India — they now wish to carve birds and animals that aren’t as widespread. These embody the Nilgiri tahr, Nilgiri marten, noticed deer, jungle fowl, Indian large squirrel, hornbill, amongst others. Hand-carved by tribal girls utilizing easy instruments, these are animals and birds the folks grew up seeing.
The miniatures will initially be obtainable on the market in all of the Forest Division eco retailers within the Nilgiris, Mudumalai, Bandipur and Wayanad, and can be bought on-line quickly. Whereas the ladies at the moment are working from the Collective’s workplace in Gudalur, they are going to finally have the liberty to make the collectible figurines from house.
For enquiries, electronic mail information@therealelephant.com
Elephant tales
Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union Minister of State for Setting, Forest and Local weather Change, launched An Historic Bond: The Elephant Whisperers of Mudumalai, a espresso desk e book by Tarsh Thekaekara that includes photographs of elephants and their mahouts, and the youngsters’s e book The Misplaced Elephant and the Soul Tree revealed by Westland’s Pink Panda.
The Misplaced Elephant and the Soul Tree
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Particular association
Appropriate for kids aged eight to 12, The Misplaced Elephant and the Soul Tree was impressed by the creator’s reportage throughout elephant camps within the Western Ghats. Little Woman, LG for brief, a mischievous elephant calf will get separated from her herd after they cross a tea plantation. She results in an elephant camp within the forest for deserted and problematic elephants, and should summon each ounce of braveness to search out her manner again house.
Her solely hope is the Soul Tree, a residing, respiratory portal into faraway landscapes. With the assistance of two feisty previous elephants and a fierce tusker with a young coronary heart, she units out to search out it on a full-moon night time, braving darkish jungles and predators on the lurk.
The story will take readers into the workings of an elephant herd, introducing points akin to disappearing forests, man-animal battle, and elephant behaviour. Set within the dense sholas of Tamil Nadu, it has magic and journey, and is an ode to the various steely elephant matriarchs who would die to guard their herd.
Accessible at e book shops and on-line.
Revealed – August 16, 2025 12:14 pm IST
