Pampered at camp, they put on weight

Being pampered at the 48-day rejuvenation camp, which concluded at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) near here recently, has to a considerable extent benefited the captive elephants of the reserve.

When taken to the weigh bridge at Thorapalli, near Gudalur, on Saturday, it was found that many of them had put on weight.

Sources told

The Hindu here on Sunday that out of the 26 captive elephants in the Bambax, Theppakadu and Abhayaranyam which had participated in the camp, 16 had been weighed. While the weight of a few elephants had gone up by about 200 kg, others had put on between 50 and 150 kg.

A few elephants which had health problems had also improved.

The elephants had been given total rest during the camp.

Elephant safari and patrolling had been put on hold for 48 days. The elephants had been put on a special diet and given special exercises in the morning and evening.

Apart from rice, ragi, hot gram and fruits, they had been given green gram. The sources said that the health of the pachyderms would be monitored regularly.