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Citizen of
God's own country
The elephant was huge. He stood in the warm sun, contently
munching on palm leaves. As I approached, he stopped eating. He regarded
me carefully for a few seconds and then nonchalantly returned to his meal.
His mighty trunk swiftly and efficiently stripped leaves from branches
and stuffed them into his mouth. His tusks gleamed as he moved his head
to and fro, gracefully flapping his ears.
This was Gopikrishnan. He is one of the few elephants
of the Annakotta who is a native of Kerala. Gopikrishnan was born in the
forests of Nilambur in Kerala’s northern district of Malappuram. Poachers
captured him when he was 10 years old. The poachers used an old tried and
tested method, which was almost always successful. Huge pits were dug and
carefully hidden over with leaves and twigs for the elephant to walk over
and fall into. Then, the poachers used loud firecrackers to scare the herd
and drive some elephants towards the pits. The elephants that fell into
the pits were completely helpless and the poachers could easily subdue
them and, take them away on a rope net that was already laid on the floor
of the pit, to be sold for a good price. And that was how Gopikrishnan
came to live at the Devassom Board’s Annakotta.
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Soon after that, the State government issued an order
prohibiting the capture of wild elephants in Kerala. Ever since then, elephants
were brought from the jungles of Assam in Eastern India. Today, there are
very few captive elephants that could claim to be natives of Kerala. Gopikrishnan
is one of these few.
Today the 48-year-old giant towered over me. 9.5 feet
tall and weighing 5.75 tons, he was an imposing sight. It was easy to see
that he was one of the best looked after elephants in the Annakotta. The
last of his kind in captivity, his Malayali mahouts obviously felt that
he deserved to be treated well. I learned that it was a great honor for
a mahout to train an elephant born in Kerala. Gopikrishnan’s mahout was
a quiet, reserved man. But, I could see the pride and joy on his face as
tourists ‘ooh-ed’ and ‘aah-ed’ over his elephant.
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Kerala elephants are considered to be much better than
their Assamese counterparts. They are said to be stronger and have better
features. Usually, an elephant possesses the I.Q. of a 5-year-old human
child. But elephants of Kerala are said to be smarter and are able to learn
faster and better.
On the other hand, they are much more ferocious than
their Assamese counterparts. They own almost all the features of what an
elephant is speculated to have for a proper presentation. All the other
elephants of non-Keralite origin usually don’t have quarrels with one of
Gopikrishnan's caliber.
The only time when it is difficult to handle an elephant
is during ‘madhom’. Then they are unconscious in their actions. Also, they
get a lot of digestive problems. Other kinds of sickness hardly bothers
an elephant. They have a strong immune system. But the spasms of stomach
disorders happen as they eat in great haste. Gopikrishnan eats volumes
in a short span and ends up in this condition. Then the doctor or the pappan
[mahout] has to insert his lubricated hand into the elephants excretory
organ to pull out the food which causes the pain. This is done to
prevent the elephant from scooping the loose soil from the earth and gulping
it down. Many a times Gopikrishnan has got good spanking from the mahouts
for getting into such a situation; however he still walks with an aura
of authority as if the place is his playground.
Story by
Catherene and
Sojan
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