Jumbo showers at Konni
The Indian Elephants of Kerala, has been listed as endangered species by International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ICUN) as the world’s as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 33, 000 in the wild. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, dreadful conditions. Along with a large population of wild elephants, Kerala has more than thousand elephants in captivity. Most of them are owned by Hindu temples donated by devotees and individuals. Elephants are a major attraction of the temple festivals in Kerala with the Thrissur Pooram being the chief among them. The world famous Guruvayur temple has around 65 captive elephants. The world’s only Elephant Palace at Punnar Kottaouple of miles from the Guruvayur temple.
The Elephants clad in gold plated nettipattam – necklaces with bells holding tinselled silk parasols(muttukuda) swaying white tufts (vencamaram) and peacock feather fans (alavattam) and walk to the rhythm of the temple orchestra including nagaswaram. One of the world famous elephant, named Guruvayur Kesavan belonged to this temple and Trikadavoor Shivaraju one of the tallest elephants owned by Thrikadavoor Temple for Thiruvathamcore Devaswam Board.
A £1500 giant refreshing Elephant shower has been installed at Konni in Kerala, the elephant camp of the Forest Department, to take good care of elephant, an initiative by Divisional Forest Officer T. Pradeepkumar. The water stored in a special storage tank will be pumped into the shower.