Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary

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Feeding rescued elephants

2024

Riyan Ramanath, July 3, 2024: The Times of India

Bhubaneswar : This restaurant serves breakfast and lunch, menu is strictly vegetarian, customers have separate booths, the service and the food are expected to be excellent, but the staff know they mustn’t come in the way of patrons when they enter or leave the establishment — a basic precaution for a restaurant for elephants.


This ‘elephant restaurant’ has opened in Odisha’s Chandaka wildlife sanct uary, which lies just outside the state capital.
‘Customers’ are elephants rescued by forest officials. Typically, they are young elephants that got separated from their herd. They are being trained to be what’s locally called kumki elephants, who are deployed for taming elephants in the wild and for monitoring tiger pres- ence in forests — tiger population is on the rise in neighbouring forests, say officials. There are six elephants, cared for by 13 mahouts and assistant mahouts.


The restaurant idea was born out of necessity. As Susanta Nanda, chief conservator, explained: “Training requires a routine as well as nutritional food”. An establish- ment that caters to the elephants at specific times of a day fit the bill. Nanda said each elephant has a booth named after them, and they have been trained to identify the booth that’s theirs.
What will the elephants eat from? Granite trays that, Nada said, ensures both that the ‘plates’ survive and can be washed and cleaned easily.


And what’s on the menu for Jaga, Mama, Uma, Kartik, Chandu and Sankar — the six regular ‘customers’? Breakfast, at 8.30 sharp, and served after a brisk morning walk and light exercise, offers fruits like banana, coconut, carrot, sugar cane and watermelon. Lunch, served after an hour-long bath from 1.30 to 2.30 pm, is heavier — wheat, millets, corn powder, horse gram, molasses mixed with turmeric, castor oil, and salt.
Dinner, though, is at home. “The elephants have a separate rest shed, away from the restaurant, where they are provided with grass, tree branches, banana stem, straw etc for consumption throughout night”, Sarat Behera, divisional forest officer, said.


The daily ‘bill’ for training and feeding each elephant (including salaries for mahouts) won’t buy you a good lunch in a big city, upscale restaurant — it’s just Rs 1,500.