(IN): Love-struck jumbos get cozy in new home

August 31, 2007

Link:

/articleshow/2324853.cms

Love-struck jumbos get cozy in new home

31 Aug 2007, 0248 hrs IST,TNN

RANIGANJ: Savitri and her wild lover are so much in love that forest

officials do not have the heart to separate them. They would rather wait for

the mating season to be over before trying to rescue the circus elephant

" abducted " by a tusker on Wednesday.

The female elephant, in fact, refused to recognise her mahout - who has

nurtured her like a father for over two decades - on Thursday. She turned

her head away when he called out to her. The tusker and his beloved are

staying beside a pond in Raniganj's Roypara, about a kilometre from river

Damodar. The lovers strolled to Majhipara in nearby Nukur village in the

afternoon and had a light meal of bamboo shoots before returning to their

home.

They spent most of the day frolicking in the water. Villagers, who have been

thronging to the pond to see the elephants, say the pair was having a nice

time and seemed to be in no mood to leave each other.

The local people may be sighing over the jumbo lovers but the manager of

Olympic Circus, Chandranath Banerjee, is counting his losses. With Savitri

gone, the three other female elephants are in no mood to carry on the show.

One of them, Gayatri, is pining for Savitri and has stopped having food,

though the circus officials managed to coax her into taking a few leaves and

shoots on Thursday. Banerjee is also worried that the tusker may take

Savitri, who is worth Rs 4 lakh, to the jungle. He has urged the state's

chief wildlife warden to direct the DFO and rangers of Bankura to prevent

the elephant pair from mixing with the migratory herd of 32 elephants

roaming the Beliatore forests.

--

Fight captive Jumbo abuse, end Elephant Polo

Recommended Posts