TN mahouts, cavadies to be trained in Thailand for better elephant management
T
hirteen mahouts and cavadies of the Anamalai and Madumalai Tiger Reserves will be flying to Thailand for training at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. The Tamil Nadu forest department has allocated Rs 50 lakh for the programme at the Thai centre where the mahouts and cavadies will be given training in capacity building. Six mahouts/cavadies from Kozhikamuthy at the Anamalai Tiger reserve and seven from Thepekkadu in Madumalai Tiger reserve will attend the training programme.
Tamil Nadu Environment, Climate Change and Forest department Additional secretary, Supriya Sahu in a statement said that the funds for the training programme would be taken from tiger foundation funds.
There are 63 elephants in Theppekadu and Kozhikamuthy which are the oldest elephant rehabilitation camps in the country.
There are regular and temporary staff in the elephant camps and most are drawn from the local tribal communities. Most of the mahouts and cavadies belong to the Irulars, Malasaras and other tribal and indigenous communities who are traditional forest dwellers.
The Tamil Nadu government in an order said that these mahouts are generally trained by the older mahouts and they never had the chance to get trained in international camps where best practices are implemented.
The Elephant Conservation Centre in Lapang, Thailand has 50 elephants and is a centre for research on elephant behaviour and attitude as well as for treating sick elephants.
✔️ TN mahouts, cavadies to be trained in Thailand for better elephant management
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