Unchained,gentle and playful: elephants have overcome trauma,say zoo officials

For the past week,Anarkali and Laxmi have been roaming free inside their enclosure and both have been very well behaved,their mahout said. “Last weekend,a large crowd came to see them but they were calm,” he said,standing between the wandering elephants speaking to them every now and them.

At one point,Laxmi put her trunk out and called out to him with a huffing sound. As the mahout put his hands on her trunk,she pulled him close and he responded by patting her massive head.

“She is a gentle animal,very caring,” he said. “What happened two weeks ago was out of fear.”

Zoo veterinarian Dr Sanjay Tripathi said,“Laxmi and Anarkali were very disturbed for two days after the incident,and we had to keep them chained till the trauma wore off. Elephants are very intelligent animals and can sense when something is amiss. In fact,in the wild,when elephants kill an animal,they often return to the spot a couple of times over the next few days.”

He added,“Laxmi was the elephant that used to take kids for joyrides.”

Dr Komal Pawar,veterinary surgeon,said,“Herbivorous animals don’t kill for food or pleasure and the reason Laxmi attacked the trespasser would have been in defence. Both animals must have been in great stress.”

According to the doctors,the spot where the man was killed had to be thoroughly cleaned and the wall douched with water before they elephants were left loose again.

As a precaution,the walls of the elephant enclosure will soon be raised to a taller height and strengthened. “We will start the work in a day or two,” a zoo official said. Security has been beefed up near all animal enclosures. “We will do another security review near every enclosure and decide if more guards are needed at certain spots,” an official said.

Celina Jaitley asks for shift
Actor Celina Jaitley has written to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) asking that Laxmi and Anarkali be shifted out of the zoo. “In Mumbai,elephants in captivity are kept in cruel conditions. It breaks my heart to see them sentenced to a lifetime of boredom,loneliness and even abuse,” she wrote.

Dharmesh Solanki of PETA India added,“Six months have passed since a CZA order and the elephants are still in the zoo. We have informed the CZA about this.”