Second set of Dasara elephants arrive in Mysuru

Mysuru/Madikeri: The second batch of seven elephants, including Krishna and Drona, who are coming here for the first time, arrived in the city on Thursday. They will participate in the Dasara procession, by joining the eight

elephants

led by Arjuna, on Friday.

Apart from the new entrants, tuskers Vikram, Gopi, Gopalswamy and Prashanth checked into the Mysuru Palace premises. Krishna and Drona are from Mathigodu elephant camp in the Nagarahole tiger reserve, while the rest are from Dubare in Kushalnagar in Kodagu district.

Before coming to Mysuru, the four elephants at Dubare were offered pooja by foresters led by Somwarpet ACF M S Chinnappa. Eight staff including mahouts and their families, arrived in the city from Kushalnagar, along with the elephants.

The elephants from Kushalnagar came by 4.30 pm while the elephants from Nagarahole reached at 5.30 pm. Senior officials led by DC D Randeep, who is the Dasara special officer, and his wife Arpitha, offered pooja to the elephants. Senior forest officials led by conservator of forests (Mysuru circle) P B Karunakar, were present.

Krishna is participating in the procession for the first time at the age of 56, though he was captured when he was nine. He was assisting foresters during operations to tame or chase away wild elephant. He was captured during the Keddha operation in 1970 at Kallahalli in Nagarahole tiger reserve. Drona,35, was captured at Madahalli in the Yelsur forest in Hassan district.