Theppakadu camp: the last refuge for elephants destined to captivity Premium

The Oscar-winning documentary, Elephant Whisperers, has put the spotlight, rightly, on the mahouts looking after captive elephants. The more than 100-year-old elephant camp at Theppakadu in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) has ensured advance care for orphaned and captive elephants, with the Forest Department continually evolving norms to ensure the best quality of life for the animals in captivity.

The Oscar-winning documentary, Elephant Whisperers, has put the spotlight, rightly, on the mahouts looking after captive elephants. The more than 100-year-old elephant camp at Theppakadu in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) has ensured advance care for orphaned and captive elephants, with the Forest Department continually evolving norms to ensure the best quality of life for the animals in captivity.

The Theppakadu Elephant Camp, where the documentary was filmed, has recently become home to another three-month-old calf found in Dharmapuri. It was brought to the camp in a state of stress because of its new surroundings, away from its herd. Bomman, the mahout made famous by the documentary, has been charged with rearing the calf. Theppakadu is one of the two elephant camps in Tamil Nadu. Its ‘kumki’ elephants, trained to chase away wild pachyderms that stray too close to human habitations, are routinely used in elephant operations across the State.

Though the camp was started by the British to extract timber from the MTR forests, the camp has become a refuge for “problem” and “orphaned” elephants since 1953. Elephants were captured in the past to harvest timber from the forests. But the elephants that have resided in Theppakadu over the last 70 years are those that have had negative interactions with people and that have sustained a serious injury that rendered them incapable of surviving in the wild. Or they were orphaned while being calves.

According to Forest Department officials, 29 elephants — adults as well as calves and juveniles — reside at the camp. Since the camp was started, 51 calves have been born, with 32 having been raised and given to temples. While eight still live there, nine have died of natural causes over the years. The fate of two others is not known as the Forest Department has no records to show whether they died or were given away.

Officials stated 10 orphaned calves (born in the wild, but brought to the camp either because they were abandoned or their mothers died) have also been raised at the camp since 1971, when the first one, Senthil Vadivu, came in. “The elephant is alive and well in the camp. Eight of the 10 orphaned elephants are still alive. two died over the years: one from a viral disease and the other in an accident,” said D. Venkatesh, Field Director of the MTR and Conservator of Forests, The Nilgiris.

“It should be noted that young calves brought to the camp are mostly injured or were found to be abandoned with little to no chance of being reunited with their herds,” said a senior Forest Department official attached to the MTR. Calves, such as Raghu and Bommie, that featured in the documentary were fed a special diet that was developed from years of caring for calves at the camp. “The feed, mainly composed of lactogen, glucose and lukewarm water, has been tailored to each calf, based on its age, size and digestive capacities, to protect them from side-effects,” the official said.

“Experience and years of learning have helped to build the capacity of the staff at the camp to alter the formula according to the needs of each calf,” he added.