THE LOVING APPROACH TO TEMPLE ELEPHANT CARE

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Dear Vaishnavas,Dandavats Pranams!Kindly spare 5 minutes of your valuable time to read the below article.The article can be forwarded to our Tambaram Selayoor Matam.Vaishnava dasanu das,Manoram Chaitanya das.---------------------Hare Krishna!Dear Maharaj and Prabhu's,All glories to Srila Prabhupada!I am happy to announce that I had been invited to represent ISKCON Mayapurand MAP (Mayapur Animal protection team) to attend and present a paper onour Elephant Management Practices in Mayapur at the"National Symposium for Elephant Health care and Management Practices"That was held at the College of Veterinary Science, Assam AgriculturalUniversity, Khanapara,

Guwahati. on 19th-21st January, 2009. It wasorganized and sponsored by the Directorate of Project Elephant, Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests, Government of India, New Delhi.Many Delegates were there from different parts of India and abroad. I wasone of the delegates that presented a paper. At the end of the Symposium theParticipants received a Compendium, Souvenir and Certificate.The paper (see below) that I presented was extremely well received.Every one was clapping and congratulated me, especially Mr. A. N. Prasad,IGF and Director of "Project Elephant of India". He said that I havepresented a new approach to Elephant care, by quoting the Bhagavad Gita andPointing out that that we are all Spiritual Souls inside different bodies.and thus Elephants need to be treated with Respect and cared for with Love.He said that that is their Indian Culture and they have forgotten it and nowa German

Lady goes up on the Stage and reminding them about their forgottenculture.Please bless me that I might continue in this service by assisting me tobetter care for our Temple Elephants.Hare Krishna!Your humble servant,Hrimati dasiP.s.I can send Pictures on RequestTHE LOVING APPROACH TO TEMPLE ELEPHANT CAREWhile I am caressing her trunk, Laksmipriya makes soft growling sounds. Shemakes me reflect back to the time which made me want to care for Elephantsthe way they deserve.On April 1st, 2006 was a day when I promised myself I wanted to make adifference in the life of an elephant. It was the day when our templeelephant Gulab Kali died. It was a day that I will never forget. Ourdevotees were all standing around her dead body crying, including myself.Gulab Kali had been with us for 24 years. She joined our temple at the ageof 4 and had been serving the Lord by

being His carrier for many years onprocession during the winter months. Gulab Kali was very gentle. Even smallchildren could get close to her. I never really thought that some day thisbeautiful Elephant would not be with us anymore. She had been a part of ourlives. My sons used to visit her often and pet her and give her treats.Gulab Kali was a member of our community and was loved by everyone.My inspiration comes from the Bhagavad-Gita where Lord Krishna tells Arjuna:The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision aLearned and gentle Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater[Outcaste]. BG 5.18According to our beliefs, everyone is the same spiritual soul inside oftheir outer shell, or material bodies. We do not make any distinctionbetween species or castes. A dog, a cow, and an elephant may be differentfrom the point of view of species, but these differences of

body aremeaningless from our viewpoint. The different bodies may be of differentnatures, however the Soul within the different bodies are of Spiritualnature. We also believe that the Supreme Lord resides in each and everyone'sbody. With this in mind Gulab Kali was cared for.So, I was asking myself, if we really loved Gulab Kali so much, then why didshe die such an untimely death? I wanted to know, because it was decidedright away that we need to bring another elephant to our temple. Otherwise,who will carry the Lord during the winter processions? This is where myresearch began.After the death of Gulab Kali, several concerned devotees, including myselfformed a team called the MAP MAP, Mayapur Animal Protection (Team), operates under the simpleprinciple that animals are not ours to use for entertainment, whileeducating Mayapur Residence about animal abuse and promoting

anunderstanding of the right of all animals to be treated with respect.I was not involved in the care of Gulab Kali, but after forming the MAP Iwas asked to bring and care for the new elephant. Before bringing anotherelephant to our temple, I wanted to make sure not to do the same mistakesbut to learn from them and bring about a change.Our Temple is located at the confluence of the Bhagirathi and JalangiRivers, 130 km north of Kolkata, in the holy city of Mayapur, districtNadia, West Bengal. Mayapur is basically a small town surrounded by ricefields and forests. The subtropical climate and lush vegetation make anideal environment for elephants; however chances of flooding during themonsoon month are very high each year.The previous elephant had been kept on the temple grounds in a shed. Shewould remain unchained inside her shed on the cemented floor during thenight and for several hours during

the day. A bathing pool was providedoutside, where the mahouts would bathe her. The method of control was withankus (iron hook) and full contact. Over the years the elephant developedsevere foot problems, which worsened during floods, because the elephantoften refused to move to higher grounds and as a result had to remainstanding in flood waters for several days. Out of "affection" the devoteesused to give Gulab Kali sweets like laddus (Indian traditional sweet),sometimes even buckets full of leftovers from lunch, like rice, andvegetables etc. But are all those things the natural foods for an elephant?I was asking myself. The many pilgrims that come to Mayapur would beg for"blessings" from the elephant and put coins in her trunk. In return, shewould put her trunk on the Pilgrims head, however it worried me whether itis healthy for an elephant to touch coins, that went through, who knows howmany

hands? In its natural environment, will an elephant prefer to sleep ona cemented floor? In the wild, do female elephants stay alone?If I was to get another elephant for our temple, I wanted to make adifference. I wanted to create an environment where she is loved and feelsat home and most of all, where she still gets to be an elephant and gets todo the things that elephants like to do in the company of other elephants.When I first found Laksmipriya I was saddened by the condition in whichI found her. It was upsetting for me to see this little elephant in such apitiful condition. She was very thin and malnourished, and had three of herfeet chained.Even her Mahout was skinny with his rib bones showing. The elephant's ownerhad no means to feed her. That might have explained why she was not lookedafter very well. The keeper had not supplied her with much food, so shetried to reach for any grass that

was near her. The mahout that was with herhanded me some small cut pieces of banana stock sprinkled with some salt,which the elephant accepted gladly from me. But I was not getting a showanimal. Remembering that I had promised myself to make a difference in thelife of an Elephant, I accepted to bring this little female Elephant to beengaged in Religious services in Mayapur.After arriving in Mayapur, Laksmipriya adjusted very quickly to her newhome.We are keeping Laksmipriya in a natural forest habitat. She gets tethered toa different tree each night, but during the day she is mostly free roamingor takes walks with her mahout riding her.She likes to graze on the nearby grasses in the field. Her favorite foodsare banana leaves and banana tree trunks. She can consume several of themper day.We generally supply her with already cut trees; however, the mahouts alsotrained her to fell her own banana

trees. Early in the morning she enjoysthe leaves of the bamboo and a variety of other forest vegetation. Once aday she gets a ration of soaked raw chickpeas and either uncooked rice orwhole wheat combined with mineral mixture and natural rock salt. The mahoutmakes a small sandwich-type packet by wrapping this mixture in cut bananaleaves or grass. From time to time she also gets some black salt with this.Black salt keeps away intestinal parasites.Besides the natural grazing and browsing she does, we also supplyLaksmipriya with freshly cut grass according to the season. Daily at 5 PMshe makes her rounds to the Temple Campus, where people get to see her andfeed her treats like grass, fruits, small pieces of sugarcane and carrots.We do not allow people to give any coins to the elephant and no more"blessings".Every Sunday we walk with the elephant for 6 km to another temple, where shegets to go to the

nearby Lake to play in the water. On the way, villagershappily feed her with banana leaves, sugar cane and seasonal fruits. As wewalk on the unpaved village road, many little children follow behind us.Each week they eagerly wait in front of their humble homes for Laksmipriya,who is slowly becoming everyone's favorite.In case of flooding during the monsoon months, the elephant will be takenthis same route to higher grounds. Getting her familiar with the routeduring the dry season will help us manage her in case of an emergency.Elephants need to walk every day to keep healthy. In the winter season, weallow Laksmipriya to walk on the paved main road. This will help her footpads and nails to wear off. In the summer we try to keep her of the hot tarroads. During the hot time of the day, she remains in her forest under theshade of tall trees which shelter her from the scorching summer sun.In the beginning it

was difficult for us to care for her feet. The Elephantwas not that well trained and did not know to follow the command that makesher lie down. As our mahouts only use a bamboo stick and not the ankus fortraining her, it took a little longer to teach her the command. I prefer touse the humane way of training rather than using the ankus, which can causesevere injuries if used excessively. After finally learning the command,while lying down on her side, the elephant is letting us now do her manicurewithout problems. We use a knife and a file to trim the nails and footpad.To prevent fungal infections, we constructed a small foot bathing pool,where we let the elephant soak her feet in a solution of warm water mixedwith potassium permanganate. We had some problems with minor cracks in hernails. Applying mustard oil to her nails along with feeding her a wellbalanced diet and walking a lot seams to help the crack

problem.Elephants need to drink lots of water, in the summer more than in thewinter. Laksmipriya has access to a specially constructed water tank;however she has quickly learned the art of drinking from the tap as well asfrom the hand pump. For her daily bath, the elephant has a small bathingtank. She also likes to swim in natural ponds which she especially enjoys.Had I known how much this elephant enjoys playing in the water, I would havecertainly made the pool a bit bigger.During the rainy season, the elephant stays at night under a roof which isopen on all four sides. The raised, tightly packed, natural dirt floor letsher urine run off, so her sleeping place stays clean. However, we never keepher tethered at the same place for any long period of time. When weatherallows, she will always stay under the shade of tall trees.Keeping the elephant on dirt has one setback. We need to keep a close

watchon her behavior and eating habits. I have learned that if our elephantstarts eating the soil, something is wrong. When there is an imbalance inher mineral intake she tries to replace the minerals by eating soil. Thisbehavior usually means that the elephant probably has some kind ofintestinal parasites. Her feces will have a darker color than usual and astronger odor to it. Regular de-worming is very important. We routinelyexamine her stool every 3 to 4 months.As there are many cattle in Mayapur, we inoculate our elephant for most ofthe common cattle diseases. I keep a medical register to keep records of herhealth, growth and vaccine schedules. I also note down any unusual behavioror problems.Lately I have noticed a different behavior in Laksmipriya, which she hasnever shown before. She is showing unusual affection towards me. Althoughshe has a special liking for me this particular behavior may

be somethingdifferent. I usually visit her twice or three times in a day. Calling out toher as I get near her place, she usually responds by turning towards me. Icaress her under her trunk on a special place where I always do. For thelast few days, as soon as I call out to her from a distance, she respondswith a loud roar and trumpeting, as if she is trying to say, "Where have youbeen?! I've been waiting for you!" Besides the roaring and trumpeting shealso makes whistling sounds to get my attention. When I finally reach her,she growls so loud, that it almost worries me that I have not spent moretime with her. If I meet her walking on the road, she will come runningtowards me. She just wants to be with me. Nothing else seams to satisfy her.The mahouts are joking with me that I should just take her home with me tomake her happy. As for me, it just means that it is time for bringing thesecond

elephant to Mayapur quickly.The relationship between the mahout and the elephant is very important forthe emotional wellbeing of the Elephant. Anyone who is involved in caring ormanaging our Elephant remembers this. It is a personal affair. Elephants arevery intelligent people inside monstrous bodies, who have feelings. Theyhave their own will too. The love that an elephant feels from her caretakerwill never be forgotten for the rest of her life.However, Elephants are not pets. They are not ours to keep forEntertainment. For their Social health they need the company of their ownspecies.For Laksmipriya not to be lonely, we have already made arrangements foranother female elephant, whom we have named Vishnupriya, to come and givecompany to our young Laksmipriya. Elephants are not loner animals. They always stay in herds. So in themeantime, while we are waiting for Vishnupriya's paperwork to

clear, I justhave to take her place.I will always care for my little temple elephants with love and affection.The love that an elephant feels from her caretaker will never be forgottenfor the rest of her life.Remember, Elephants never forget!Hare Krishna!I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. K. K. Sarma and Mr.Dwipen Kalita for their patience and help in training me to better care forour temple Elephants.