Journey of 6 Kumki elephants from Karnataka to AP begins; Pawan Kalyan signs transfer

Amaravati: A total of six Kumki (trained) elephants from Karnataka are on their way to Andhra Pradesh, to help the State control herds of rogue elephants entering farmlands, ransacking fields and attacking people.

On Wednesday, deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan visited Karnataka and officially took the documents of the six Kumki elephants—Ranjan, Deva, Krishna, Abhimanyu and Mahendra.

Wild elephants creating chaos in south AP

Over the years, wild elephants have been moving unpredictably across six mandals, causing fear and damage. The menace of wild elephants regularly destroying crops and attacking farmers has been seen in the Southern part of the State, especially in the regions of Chittoor and Parvathipuram Manyam districts.

Prior to bringing them, the mahouts and Kawadis from Andhra have been trained by the Karnataka team on how to handle the elephants.

Agreement among States to curb elephant-human conflict

The handing over of the elephants is part of an agreement for the exchange of best practices between Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. This agreement was formulated between the States during an international conference on elephant-human conflict in Bengaluru in 2024. On August 8, 2024, Pawan Kalyan, who also holds the Environment portfolio, led a delegation of forest officials to Bengaluru and requested Karnataka Forest and Environment minister Eshwar Khandre to provide eight Kumki elephants to manage, drive and capture wild elephants.

He had also sought help to provide training to their mahouts and forest staff in operations to capture elephants.

What are Kumki elephants?

Kumkis are used to capture, calm and herd wild elephants or to lead wild elephants away during conflict situations. Kumki elephants can be deployed strategically to manage and drive away wild elephants, thereby reducing damage to crops and loss of human and elephant lives.

Killings by wild elephants

The persistent human-wildlife conflicts in the Chittoor district have been occurring for many years. The State has seen many human deaths in man-elephant conflicts. As per reports, the elephant population in Andhra Pradesh is between 120 and 142, located mostly in four districts of Chittoor, Annamayya, Parvatipuram-Manyam and Vizianagaram.

In one case, an elephant trampled a 50-year-old person to death in Ramakuppam mandal. Farmers in many villages in the district have been repeatedly complaining about elephants raiding their crops.