Trained jumbos arrive.... Elephants brought from Karnataka

Bengal forest minister Binoy Krishna Burman garlands one of the elephants on Friday 

TT, Alipurduar: Eight trained elephants from Karnataka reached the Jaldapara National Park here on Friday morning.

The elephants have travelled for 151 hours and covered a distance of 3,200km, right from Mysore, and will continue to serve as "employees" of the Bengal forest department. Along with them, 18 mahouts and other workers have come to help them acclimatise with the new environment.

"We had asked for 15 elephants from the Karnataka forest department. As of now, eight have arrived and the remaining will be here in due course. The elephants are trained but they would be provided with some more training before put into service," said state forest minister Binoy Krishna Burman.

He was in Jaldapara to welcome the elephants.

Sources said a couple of years back, a team of forest officers had visited Karnataka and had 15 elephants which would be brought to Bengal.

"From Karnataka, elephants are also sent to Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. That is why we believe only eight have been sent. These would be kept in the Jaldapara North Range. For their training, we will have prominent elephant expert Parbati Barua and our experienced mahouts and their assistants. Also, the team who accompanied the elephants from Karnataka will be here for some time," said Kumar Vimal, the divisional forest officer of Jaldapara wildlife division.