Is young lust allowed to run its course in India!?
Try as I might I cannot better the reportage of the following story, occurring in two parts, I've been waiting for the concluding chapter to confirm the happy ending but nothing's dropped off the newswire.
Still, as long as she comes home and is welcomed back with open arms the circus owner should be happy - the emotional side can't help but get caught up in all this love talk and hope she sneaks off into the jungle, but with no herd and, despite the rhetoric of the piece, adult males don't hang around once they feel their business is done - she'll need the help of that pining aunty elephant...
_______________________________
Still, as long as she comes home and is welcomed back with open arms the circus owner should be happy - the emotional side can't help but get caught up in all this love talk and hope she sneaks off into the jungle, but with no herd and, despite the rhetoric of the piece, adult males don't hang around once they feel their business is done - she'll need the help of that pining aunty elephant...
_______________________________
Tusker elopes with circus elephant (India)
Debajyoti Chakraborty, Times of India
30 August 2007
RANIGANJ (WB.) He was tall, dark, handsome and wild at heart. She was city bred, not all that coy. And it was love at first sight.
A huge tusker, straight out of the jungle, raided a circus in the wee hours of Wednesday, freed a female elephant and eloped with her to make a cosy home by a pond in Raiganj. This tale of untamed love has yet another bizarre twist: a second female elephant, said to be "very attached" to the one that fled the circus, has broken down and is grieving for her "mate".
The 26-year-old tusker had entered Chittaranjan town a few days ago, triggering panic among the residents. Wildlife officials were called to drive him out but the beast had other plans as it was the mating season and he was lonely. Early Wednesday, he raided Olympic Circus, which had set up camp in Kumarbazar area of Raniganj, smashed through the tin walls and stormed the stable, where four female elephants were confined. His eyes rested on Savitri four years older to him�and goaded her into fleeing with him.
The city-bred Savitri apparently fell for his wild charms and followed him like a lamb. Residents have seen the couple roaming together, much in love. The tusker led her to the home he had already chosen, a pond in ward number seven of Raniganj Municipality.
The "abduction" has shattered Chandranath Banerjee, manager of Olympic Circus. Savitri is worth Rs 4 lakh, he says. "The elephant show has been cancelled because another female jumbo, Gayatri, is pining for Savitri, her mate. She has stopped eating," said Banerjee. "We have never seen anything like this. No one could have thought that a wild tusker would come and snatch a female elephant," said another circus official.
The story seems to be heading for a tension-filled climax, much like a Bollywood masala script. The circus officials appealed to the wildlife department to rescue Savitri, and a team of forest experts has already surrounded the pond.
_________________________________
...just to build the tension here I'll intercede to say this isn't all that uncommon, we've already talked about Romeo, the young male causing havoc and his own breeding programme in Chitwan, Nepal - all the domestic camps, including Tiger Tops, now have babies that he has fathered.
As I may have said before, those Maharajahs and folks who wanted a baby as pets for their children and harem (mostly owner drivers did not want babies as it meant taking the mother off work) would let them go out into the wild for several months, have their wild fling, confident they'd come home to the good fodder when their urges were sated and the cad had gone his way.
The story, as ever, had me reminiscing about the first time Romeo the 'jungli hathi' arrived on the scene in Chitwan running off with one of the Government elephants - the urgent memo arriving from the guard post over masala scrambled eggs at breakfast, the preparation of the giant tuskers, Sham Shere Bahadur and his son Sham Shere Gaj, Kristjan Bahadur and the toughest female, Pawan Kali, the crash through the jungle surprising a leopard on the way, the armed soldiers on Pawan, the track, the chase (not that there was much of one - in those days he was not too bold and disappeared the minute we arrived), the tusk marks in the appropriate places indicating mating and the tear in her eye as we returned to her jungle hathisaar.
...after breakfast, all those years ago, the parade to the Government jungle Hathisaar to begin the tracking, spears just in case...
...and the army in the saddle, just in case - no shooting required (no shooting allowed, but you know how men with guns like their guns!).
...enough of an elephant boy's reminiscences for proper jungle and wild eles, on with the action in our Bollywood blockbuster.
________________________________________________
_________________________________
...just to build the tension here I'll intercede to say this isn't all that uncommon, we've already talked about Romeo, the young male causing havoc and his own breeding programme in Chitwan, Nepal - all the domestic camps, including Tiger Tops, now have babies that he has fathered.
As I may have said before, those Maharajahs and folks who wanted a baby as pets for their children and harem (mostly owner drivers did not want babies as it meant taking the mother off work) would let them go out into the wild for several months, have their wild fling, confident they'd come home to the good fodder when their urges were sated and the cad had gone his way.
The story, as ever, had me reminiscing about the first time Romeo the 'jungli hathi' arrived on the scene in Chitwan running off with one of the Government elephants - the urgent memo arriving from the guard post over masala scrambled eggs at breakfast, the preparation of the giant tuskers, Sham Shere Bahadur and his son Sham Shere Gaj, Kristjan Bahadur and the toughest female, Pawan Kali, the crash through the jungle surprising a leopard on the way, the armed soldiers on Pawan, the track, the chase (not that there was much of one - in those days he was not too bold and disappeared the minute we arrived), the tusk marks in the appropriate places indicating mating and the tear in her eye as we returned to her jungle hathisaar.
...after breakfast, all those years ago, the parade to the Government jungle Hathisaar to begin the tracking, spears just in case...
...and the army in the saddle, just in case - no shooting required (no shooting allowed, but you know how men with guns like their guns!).
...enough of an elephant boy's reminiscences for proper jungle and wild eles, on with the action in our Bollywood blockbuster.
________________________________________________
Elephants in love left alone (India)
Statesman News Service
August 31, 2007
RANIGANJ, Aug 30: Forest officers of Burdwan are determined to separate escapee Sabitri from her wild beau but are at a loss on when and how to do so. A bull elephant invaded a circus tent at Raniganj and left with four cows on Tuesday midnight.
According to senior forest executives, who are coordinating Sabitri's "rescue," jungle elephants do not move in the daytime while elephants who have been in human contact in circuses are afraid to move at night and hence they are at a loss to ascertain the timing of a raid to break up the pair in this "unique situation".
Moreover, Sabitri, the cow elephant, is in heat. She is reluctant to be separated from her mate and the two were seen playing water games at the farm this morning.
The tusker, too, is in heat and forest officers have decided to leave them alone for the time being.
"If we dare to conduct a raid, the pair may get violent and charge desperately," said divisional forest officer Mr Kumar Vimal. "This is a unique situation. We have decided not to disturb them as of now."
The Olympic Circus authority, meanwhile, has said it is in trouble as its elephants are a major crowdpuller. Mr Chandranath Banerjee, manager of the circus, said: "We have requested the forest officers to expedite the separation of the elephants, so we can get back our elephant at the earliest."
__________________________
...well, we are left hanging, are we not? If there is a further installment or any of our readers from Raniganj know what happened please do let us know.
__________________________
...well, we are left hanging, are we not? If there is a further installment or any of our readers from Raniganj know what happened please do let us know.
Comments