Five elephants from the Dubare Elephant Camp located on the banks of the Cauvery River in Coorg, Karnataka have started their journey to a new home in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday.

Madhya Pradesh is in need of tamed elephants to curb and check tiger menace and therefore, the State placed a request for tamed elephants from Karnataka. A total of 14 such animals have been identified of which five are from DEC.

The names of these jumbos are General Cariappa and General Thimayya, both 8 years old; Vaali, 40; Lava, 21; and Maruthi, 20.

The transfer of the elephants to a camp in Bhopal has been made following the order from the Karnataka Wildlife Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden. The animals are accompanied by eight mahouts and caretakers of the camp. These mahouts will be staying with these animals in Madhya Pradesh for some time to help them acclimate with the new place and people.

The transfer was made in the presence of officials of the forest departments of Kodagu division, Karnataka and Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

The DEC can have a maximum of 15 elephants and at present it has 32 though some of the animals have been moved to the newly opened Harangi Elephant Camp in Kodagu.