AP to get 4 Kumki elephants in first week of Nov

Guntur: AP will get four Kumki elephants in November first week, according to the MoU signed by AP and Karnataka State governments on forest preservation and wildlife preservation.

Forest department will send 15 mahouts to Karnataka for training and to learn how to manage the Kumki elephants. Wild elephants are creating havoc in the forests of Chittoor and in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts.

Elephants are entering the North Coastal Andhra districts from neighboring Odisha and damaging the crops. As a result the farmers are incurring heavy losses. The farmers point out that they were being paid less compensation.

According to the chief conservator of forests, AP, Chiranjiv Chowdary, four Kumki elephants coming from Karnataka State will be kept at an elephant base camp at Naniyala or near Kuppam or Palamaner.

At present, the state forest department is having two trained elephants. The two elephants have become old and they are of more than 60 years age. When wild elephants destroy the crops, the forest department officials will press Kumki elephants into service for crisis management. Trained Kumki elephants will send the wild elephants into the forests and solve the problem and reduce the losses. According to a survey conducted by the Forest Department, there are 110 to 120 elephants in the State, out of which nine elephants are in forests in Parvathipuram.