While being the star attraction for tourists, the elephants at Konni Elephant Camp which is located in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, will now help to generate employment and additional revenue too. The forest officials are all set to start producing eco-friendly office files at the camp which will be made from jumbo poop.
In the production unit the dung will be recycled and disinfected and its non-fibre content removed. Further additional materials will be added to it to make it soft.
These files will be made inside the camp and it will help about 15 people earn a living. Following the completion of the technical study, a detailed project report will be given to the forest department. The plan is to set up advanced machinery while renovating the building inside the camp to house this unit.
The camp is attempting to establish this production unit for the second time as their first attempt failed to take off as there were concerns about the end product. Ayush Kumar, Konni Divisional Forest Officer allaying such apprehensions said: “We will accord special attention this time for ensuring the delivery of high-quality files.”
In the camp at present there are six elephants. These include Kochayyappan (one year old); Krishna (9); Meena (31); Priyadarshini (38); Eva (20); and Konni Neelakandan (25). The dung from these animals at present is dumped in the camp.
