Elephants beat the heat with watermelon, cucumber at Yamunanagar centre

Tribune News Service

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Yamunanagar, April 30

With the onset of the summer season, the menu for elephants at Ch Surinder Singh Elephant Rehabilitation Centre, situated in the Ban Santour area of Yamunanagar district, has changed.

Ensuring the best for rescued animals

• At Ch. Surinder Singh Elephant Rehabilitation Centre in the Ban Santour area of the district, there are four rescued elephants at present.
• All of them are female elephants and the youngest is about 40 years old and the oldest is about 80 years old.
• With the rise in temperatures, their diet has been changed to keep them protected.

Watermelon, pumpkin, cucumber, banana, besides other seasonal fruits and vegetables, are part of their diet these days. They are also being fed porridge, khichdi and green fodder.

Their diet has been planned in such a way that they are well-protected from heat in this scorching summer season.

“In the winter season, the elephants are given cabbage, carrots, pumpkins and other seasonal fruits and vegetables. Sesame oil is added to their khichdi. Chyavanprash is also fed to elderly elephants to boost their immunity. Apart from this, elephants are massaged with sesame oil in the winter season,” said Jayvinder Nehra, Inspector, WildLife Department.

According to information, there are four rescued elephants at this rehabilitation centre.

All of them are female elephants and the youngest is about 40 years old and the oldest one is about 80 years old. Chanchal (80) and Lakshmi (65) were rescued from Samalkha in Panipat district and were brought to this centre in 2013. Lily (40) was rescued from Sirsa district and was shifted here in 2014. Lakshmi-II (60) was rescued from Delhi and was brought here in 2019.

“This centre contains five man-made water tanks to provide potable water to elephants. Besides, there are two pakka ponds and one natural kachcha pond, where elephants enjoy taking baths,” said Jayvinder Nehra, Inspector, Wildlife Department (additional charge) of Yamunanagar district.

He said the elephants were taken on a morning walk for 5-6 km every day to keep them healthy.

Only rescued elephants are kept at this rehabilitation centre. Forest guard Harish Dhiman, who is looking after the elephants, said that as many as 20 elephants could be housed at this rehabilitation centre, which had been developed in 2007.

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