4 months ago
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GUWAHATI
At Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve successful occidental Assam, mahouts are learning to bid elephants to respond to their commands without inflicting pain.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 850 sq. km Manas borders Bhutan. Bansbari, the cardinal scope of the nationalist park, is astir 130 km northwest of Guwahati.
An planetary grooming programme held from February 1 to 4, 2026, brought unneurotic experts from Australia’s H-ELP Foundation and teams from Kaziranga National Park and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). The aim: to amended the payment of captive Asian elephants with modern, evidence-based grooming methods. H-ELP expands to Human-Elephant Training Programs.
With astir one-third of the world’s critically endangered Asian elephant colonisation surviving successful captivity, the programme focussed connected implementing science-based, ethical grooming methods.
“We worked with a squad of specially chosen mahouts from Manas and Kaziranga, focussing connected welfare-friendly practices that regenerate accepted methods with positive, pressure-release reinforcement,” Andrew McLean, pb trainer from the H-ELP Foundation, told The Hindu.
“The grooming entails 4 steps: dependable command, instrumentality direction, shabash voice praise, and giving nutrient arsenic a reward. The halfway commands are to spell back, travel forward, assistance a leg, oregon prime thing up. This helps a batch successful regular vet check-ups erstwhile you request to dainty the elephant. Ultimately, the purpose is for the connection betwixt mahout and elephant to beryllium conscionable dependable commands and manus signals,” helium explained.
Bhaskar Choudhury, a wildlife veterinarian astatine the WTI-run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation astatine Kaziranga, said immoderate mahouts thin to springiness elephants the instrumentality attraction retired of vexation erstwhile they bash not obey commands. “This grooming should spell a agelong mode successful helping our mahouts, whose bonding with elephants is appreciable, beryllium gentler with the gentle giants,” helium said.
Approach benefits
Master trainer Alom Ali from Manas Tiger Reserve said the attack benefits some animals and handlers.
“A calm elephant is simply a safer elephant. These methods let america to grip veterinary attraction and regular enactment without fearfulness oregon pain. That is the aboriginal of elephant management,” helium said.
The programme is besides shaping a caller procreation of mahouts. Younger handlers accidental the grooming has changed however they pass with animals weighing respective tonnes.
“I utilized to deliberation louder commands meant amended control,” Dhaneshwar Kherkatary, a young mahout from Manas, said. “Now I recognize that softer, accordant cues enactment better. The elephants respond due to the fact that they spot us.”
Mark Trayling, the chairperson of the H-ELP Foundation, said the nonsubjective of the programme is to equip a squad of maestro trainers, who walk connected the module to younger mahouts and those with a passionateness for moving with elephants. He besides highlighted the shared values of Australia and India successful wildlife protection.
“In Australia, we are fortunate to person kangaroos and koalas, and India is blessed with bonzer wildlife similar elephants, tigers, rhinos, and lions. We some enactment toward a shared goal: giving these animals their champion imaginable life,” helium said.
C. Ramesh, the Field Director of Manas National Park, said the programme highlights the wildlife sphere arsenic a captious portion of planetary initiatives for holistic conservation.
“At Manas, we are arrogant to beryllium astatine the forefront of elephant welfare, implementing world-leading and scientifically backed methods which volition marque a kinder satellite for elephants. This is simply a collaborative effort and shows what sustained and affirmative outcomes tin beryllium achieved erstwhile we each enactment together,” helium said.
