Summary:
Kerala has not had a proper ‘kumki’ elephant for the past 45 years,” said V K Venkitachalam, secretary of Heritage Animal Task Force “Currently, we don’t have a ‘kumki’ elephant. It is not easy to see him being transferred,” said Sujith K S, a resident of Kodanad and an animal lover.“Elephants are subjected to torture during ‘kumki’ training. KOCHI: Neelakantan , the 22-year-old elephant of Abhayaranyam elephant training and rescue centre at Kodanad , will be shifted to Muthanga wildlife sanctuary on Monday amid protest by residents.Neelakantan, who came to Kodanand when he was six months, will be trained as a ‘kumki’ elephant (captive elephants trained to tame wild ones). Usually, we seek help from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for trained elephants,” said Anisha Siddhik, range forest officer.Siddhik said that she understood the sentiments of residents but stressed on the need for a ‘kumki’ elephant. They suffer severe injuries both externally and internally..