Dasara Elephant

Rest houses, other facilities also remained unused

dasara elephant Balarama, who has carried the golden howdah for 13 years, was injured after a resident opened fire at him on the fringes of Nagarahole tiger reserve during the wee hours of Friday.

Three weeks after the returning of dasara elephants to the woods, one of them went berserk on the forest fringes of Nagarahole and charged out of the woods.

Training dasara elephants for the 10-day festival means hard work and stress for mahouts and kavadis.

The district administration has insured the special guests - dasara elephants considering risk factor to the pachyderms, public as well as to properties during the Vijayadashami celebrations.

This 44-year-old vet works round the clock for the well-being of dasara elephants. As most of the elephants, he too has taken part in over 10 Dasara festivities.

Drought coupled with the neglect of forest department officials seems to have taken a toll on the health of dasara elephants.

It's a happy event at Mysore Palace. dasara elephant Lakshmi gave birth to a tusker late on Tuesday. Both mother and the calf are healthy and under observation, said forest officers.

Gajapayana held amid much fanfare

With the district administration cancelling the formal reception to receive the first batch of dasara elephants to Mysore Palace, uncertainty prevails over providing them the guard of honour.

The forest department is mulling over having an exclusive camp for dasara elephants round the year to enable better understanding, coordination and good health of the elephants.

Two youths have come to help dasara elephants pass through the Dasara procession route without any injuries.

Drought coupled with the neglect of forest department officials seems to have taken a toll on the health of dasara elephants.

Balarama, the dasara elephant carried the golden howdah for 14 years during the Dasara procession in Mysore and became the cynosure of all eyes.

Mahouts, kavadis are given rs 5,000 cheque each.

MYSORE: Braving the shadows cast on the Dasara celebrations due to drought in the region and Nagappa's abduction by Veerappan, the first batch of dasara elephants was accorded a rousing reception here on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend several events during his two-day visit to Mysuru, and Chamarajanagar districts on April 8 and 9. According to the sources, the PM will arrive late on Saturday and check into a private hotel for an overnight stay. Early on Sunday, PM will visit Bandipur and tour the forest area and interact with foresters. Later, he will visit Theppakadu elephant camp in Tamil Nadu.

At 5,445kg, howdah elephant Arjuna is the heaviest among the first batch of six Dasara tuskers which reached the city on Wednesday. The six underwent weight test – a regular process before dasara elephants are put on a special diet – on Thursday.

Though Arjuna did not pose any problems during the rehearsals, we were keeping our fingers crossed till the end of Jumboo Savari, revealed Dr DN Nagaraj, who was in charge of the health of dasara elephants.