Jumbos | SilverScorpio.Com

Elephant census conducted in Orissa

April 24, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Bhubaneswar (Orissa), Apr 24 (ANI): Forest rangers and game wardens of the Wildlife Department conducted a comprehensive elephant census in Orissa.

Around 10,000 personnel were deployed in this survey done in the reserve and other forest areas to determine the number of wild elephants in the State.

The three-day exercise, conducted in about 129,700 square kilometres of forest area was done to determine the exact number of jumbos.

The trained personnel were provided necessary kits to track the elephants in the wild through their footmarks and dung prior to the exercise.

It was reported that they would sit and wait on Machans (structures made of bamboos and leaves) to sight the elephants.

Divisional Forest Officer, Chandaka Range, A K Patnaik, said the direct sighting method was used to spot the herd of elephants.

The last elephant census in Orissa was conducted in 2007. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Bamboos, Bhubaneswar, census, dung, elephant, exact number, exercise, forest area, forest areas, forest officer, forest rangers, game wardens, herd of elephants, jumbos, Orissa, square kilometres, survey, wild elephants, Wildlife Department

Jumbos enjoy a day off at a wildlife sanctuary in West Bengal

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jalpaiguri, Sep 18 (ANI): Captive elephants, used by the forest officials to supervise the area, enjoyed a royal treat at the Jaldapara Sanctuary in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.

The forest officials use elephants to supervise the area since most of the sanctuary is inaccessible by vehicle or on foot.

Every year on the occasion of Vishwakarma puja, the jumbos get the much-awaited annual holiday.

On this day, the elephants are given special treatment. The day starts with the bathing of the animals in the river. The mahouts then decorate the elephants and give them special food.

“The elephants are the ride of Lord Vishwakarma and Vishwakarma takes care of machine, elephants. That’s why we the staff members of Jaldapara Wildlife perform this puja (ritual),” said Kharke Bahadur, a mahout.

Wildlife officials said elephants played a big role in maintaining the sanctuary.

“Because at Jaldapara, it’s mainly wildlife area. Here, there is very important role for such captive elephants because some areas where vehicle movement and foot patrolling is not possible because there is risk to life and these areas are accessible (because of elephants). So we totally depend on these captive elephants,” said Buddhadev Mondal, range officer at the sanctuary. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: ANI, animals, area, bahadur, bathing, Buddhadev, captive, Captive Elephants, care, day, decorate, district, food, foot, forest, forest officials, holiday, Jaldapara, Jalpaiguri, jumbos, Kharke, life, Lord Vishwakarma, machine, mahout, mahouts, Mondal, movement, occasion, officer, patrolling, Puja, range, ride, risk, ritual, river, role, Sanctuary, Sep, staff, staff members, treat, treatment, vehicle, Vishwakarma Puja, west bengal, wildlife, Wildlife Area, wildlife officials, Wildlife Sanctuary, year

Jumbos enjoy grooming sessions in Jalpaiguri

September 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jalpaiguri, Sep 5 (ANI): Visit the Dhupjhora Elephant Camp of Gorumara National Park in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, and one might come face to face with an elephant getting its nails done! The forest department organises a camp for cleaning and decorating the jumbos each year.

The elephants’ are thoroughly scrubbed, nails cut, their teeth brushed, and elaborate chalk designs made on them. Their bodies are even anointed with mustard oil for ‘that extra glow’.

Every day in the morning these elephants are taken to the forest for a safari from the Dhupjhora camp. They are brought back late in the afternoon and then taken to the nearby Murti River for routine cleaning.

The mahouts said that the elephants need to be kept well groomed. Hence they are given these beauty parlour like treatment.

“We feed them well, bathe them. Like in a beauty parlour. Their bodies are scrubbed, nails cut and teeth cleaned,’ said Arun Mandal, a mahout.

The whole process is quite a sight. The tourists are especially amazed seeing the jumbos lying calmly in the river.

“I was very delighted to se how the elephants are bathed in the river. They are then brought out and well fed. They are oiled and decorated and given special care. It was really very nice to see all this,’ said Paresh Choudhary, a tourist. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Beauty Parlour, chalk, Decorating, department organises, elephant, elephant camp, elephants, forest department, jumbos, mahout, mahouts, mustard oil, Nails, safari, sessions, teeth, tourists, west bengal

Indian circus industry fights for survival

July 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Coimbatore, July 16 (ANI): The circus industry in India today struggles for survival as stricter wildlife norms and advent of new age entertainment has spelled doom for the industry.

Circus, the traditional art, began its first show in India during 1880 in Mumbai to entertain people apart from cinema and theatres. People make a beeline to watch animals like lion, tiger, zebra, elephants, bear, etc.

However, in the wake of the central government putting a ban on the use of animals in circus under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, the show nowadays is run with fewer animals like dogs and jumbos.

Ajay Shankar, managing director, Jumbo Circus, said that the industry is incurring losses, due to new age of entertainments.

“People should come. Only then we can feed the animals and give salary to the staff. So it’s not that profitable as before because nowadays there are amusement parks, there are computers and there are other lot of entertainment, which are all new techniques,” he added.

Most of the galleries and seats remain vacant during the show. The artists, aware of the industry’s bleak future, are still drawn to it hoping for a better tomorrow.

“I joined the circus industry at a young age and started this profession as a joker. I played many artistic games and now I am 58. Though I am an expert in bar playing, once I fell down and broke my leg. Since then I am not able to walk properly and now I act as a joker,” said Chandran, an artist.

The industry has urged the central government to provide it support to save this traditional art from extinction by providing electricity and land at cheaper rates and free water to animals. By Jehovah G (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: amusement parks, beeline, better tomorrow, Central Government, circus industry, Coimbatore, cruelty to animals, elephants, Entertainments, extinction, free water, india today, indian circus, jehovah, joker, jumbos, managing director, norms, prevention of cruelty to animals, traditional art, zebra

Lightweight saddles to ease burden of elephants

May 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jaipur, May 28 (ANI): A Canada-based voluntary organization working for the cause of animals has come to the rescue of jumbos in Jaipur, by providing them with lightweight saddles to ease their burden.

The speciality of the saddle is that it weighs only 20 kilograms and is five times lighter than the traditional one, which weighs over 100 kilograms.

Due to the huge reduction in the weight, the elephant feels much more comfortable.

An initiative of ‘Help In Suffering’, these saddles are aimed at helping the elephants worldwide, to prevent injuries to them.

Designed by Charlie Grey, President, International Elephant Foundation, the lightweight saddle has been successful in Canada as well as Thailand.

The success story of the saddles in these two countries has encouraged ‘Help In Suffering’ activists to bring this saddle to India as well. A total of five saddles have been put to test on eighty elephants ferrying tourists at the Amer Fort in Jaipur.

“The five saddles will be tested for six months. We will see if the injuries are gone or no new injuries have aroused from the new saddle. After six months, if the elephants community is happy with the saddle, then we will encourage them to build the same saddle to improve the welfare of the Jaipur elephants,” said Scarlett Magda- Saddle Designer from Canada, (African Lion Safari, Canada)

If the elephant community is happy with this saddle after the six months trial time, more will be made available. By Lokendra Singh (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: ''cause, activists, african, African Lion Safari, African Lion Safari Canada, Amer, ANI, burden, Canada, Canada-based, Charlie Grey, community, designed, designer, eighty, elephant, Elephant Foundation, elephants, fort, Foundation, help, India, initiative, international, jaipur, jumbos, kilograms, lightweight, Lion, Lion Safari Canada, Lokendra, Magda, May, organization, president, reduction, rescue, saddle, saddles, safari, Scarlett Magda- Saddle, Singh, six months, Speciality, story, success, success story, Thailand, time, total, tourists, trial, trial time, Voluntary Organization, weight, welfare, worldwide

Raging jumbos destroy houses in Jharkhand village

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Purnapani (Jharkhand), Apr 28 (ANI): Farmers in a village in Jharkhand are rebuilding their houses after they were destroyed by raging elephants searching for food.

In Purnapani village, about 30 kilometers from Ranchi, the farmers have been on constant fear.

“They ate our crops and entered our houses. We screamed and there were no one around. Then my brother came with a fire torch and the elephant ran away,” Tembu, a farmer.

Farmers said that the elephants have been plundering their poorly built thatched houses as they could not afford concrete structures that would secure them not only against wild animals but also snakes and insects.

“It has broken our house. We have no other place to stay, where will I go with my children. All our belongings are out in open. It has also eaten our crops,” Kamli, another farmer.

The elephants attack the farmers for the newly harvested crops and also country made liquor which the farmers usually brew in this season from the new crop.

With decreasing forest cover and extension of human habitations into their habitats, elephants often stray into residential areas in search of food. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: ANI, Apr, belongings, brew, brother, Concrete Structures, constant fear, country, cover, crop, crops, elephant, elephants, extension, farmer, farmers, fear, fire, Fire Torch, food, forest, forest cover, habitats, house, human habitations, insects, Jharkhand, jumbos, Kamli, kilometers, liquor, open, place, Purnapani, raging, Ranchi, Residential Areas, search, season, snakes, Tembu, Thatched Houses, torch, village, wild animals

Thirsty elephants damage agricultural fields in Tamil Nadu

March 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Periyanaickenpalayam (Tamil Nadu), Mar 8 (ANI): A herd of elephants in search of water entered agricultural fields near Periyanaikenpalyam in Coimbatore and damaged standing crops causing extensive damage.

Farmers said that this transmigration of herds of jumbos has become a regular feature. It also a cause of concern since the pachyderms tend to damage agricultural fields.

However, the forest rangers have opined that the wild elephants migrate to the human settlements in search of food and water.

“May be the animals might have come out to have a dip in the water, in the pond actually. They actually love to get into this kind of stream. We don’t have this kind of ponds within the forest area because the forest as such is very sloppy and hilly. So, when there is a pond nearby the forest, we find that in many cases the elephants during summer love to come out of the forest,” said Anwardin, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Coimbatore.

Forest rangers also mentioned that now they are monitoring the movement of the wild elephants and track these as and when they head towards agricultural fields.

Incidents of man-animal conflict are common with the depletion of forest areas, and cases of animals straying into areas inhabited by humans for food are common.

India has more than 50 per cent of the majestic and intelligent Asiatic elephants but the population has been dwindling due to frequent poaching.

It is estimated that 45,000 elephants are left in the wild, down from more than 100,000 a century ago as compared to 600,000 of their larger-eared African cousins. A subspecies in Borneo numbers little more than 1,000 animals. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: agricultural fields, asiatic elephants, borneo, Coimbatore, forest area, forest areas, forest officer, forest rangers, herd of elephants, herds, human settlements, jumbos, man animal, pachyderms, Ponds, standing crops, subspecies, Tamil Nadu, thirsty elephants, transmigration, wild elephants

Microchips to identify elephants in Jim Corbett National Park

January 21, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Jim Corbett National Park, Jan 21 (ANI): Elephants in Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand have been installed with microchips, which will act as their identification proof.

Installed with the help of a syringe, these chips will help the authorities identify the elephants from among the wild ones.

The chips would provide a unique identification number to the elephants, which would enable the wildlife authorities at the park, to keep a track on these elephants through the means of a digital reader.

The chips would also ensure that the owner of the elephants, which are used to ferry visitors around the park, do not exchange their old and ailing jumbos with another elephant.

“The microchip gives a unique identification number to the elephant. The chances of that animal mixing with others and even the owners exchanging their animals with other elephants are reduced,” said DS Rawat, Warden, Jim Corbett National Park.

The authorities at the park would only allow the elephants installed with microchips to take the visitors for a trip around the park.

So far around 17 elephants have been installed with these microchips and many more are in queue to get their digital identification. By Vipul Goel (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: animals, chips, corbett national park, elephant, elephants, jan 21, jim corbett national park, jumbos, microchip, microchips, proof, queue, syringe, Uttarakhand, wild ones, wildlife authorities