It was a unique congregation as zoo keepers from all over the country came together to get first hand training from Elephant experts of Assam.

Folowing a decision and directive of Central Zoo Authority, the Assam State Zoo at Guwahati was given the responsibility to impart a week long training to zoo kepers from different parts of the country on proper Elephant management. The same was very successfully conducted between 21/04 to 21/04 in which 21 zoo keepers/staff drawn from 18 zoos across 13 states of the country participated.It was a unique congregation as zoo keepers from Delhi, Nandankanan( Orissa), Kanpur, Lucknow ,Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Shipajhila( Tripura) and from other states came together to get first hand training from the wildlife and Elephant experts and resource persons of Assam as also got an opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas amongst themselves.

Kaushik Baruah of the Assam Elephant Foundation, Veterinary Professor Dr KK Sharma, Assams’s Internationally famous female Elephant trainer Parbati Baruah( nicknamed ‘hastir kanya’ in her state), specialised Doctor of animal disease and medicine as also an expert on Elephants Dr. RL.Smith, Deputy Forest Conservation Officer of Assam —the hugely experienced Bhupen Talukdar were some of the top resource persons amongst others to be  called by Assam Zoo to impart training. ‘’ Elepant management and training is a huge field. The week long training that we are imparting is extensive covering almost every aspect of Elephant management with an eye to upgrading the skills of the zoo keepers by making them aware of the innovations and the new technique that has come up with time. The panel of resource persons during the training won’t have match in the whole country if the experience of dealing with the Elephant is concerned.’’, said Narain Mahanta , the DFO of Guwahati Zoo.

The star turn was obviously provided by ‘hastir kanya’ Parbati Baruah who is the only female Elephant expert in the whole of Asia . Zoo keepers across the country with huge experience were also wonderstruck seeing Baruah literally make the tuskers dance to her tunes.

She trained the zoo keepers with the help of two Elephants—Rongmon and Madhabi and amongst other things taught the participants 35 effective commands to manage an Elephant in an effective manner. As part  of the training all the trainees were taken to Kaziranga for 3 days for an exposure trip and understanding tuskers better in the National Park which also has a sizeable Elephant population.

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