Tusk of the elephant Chenthamarakshan trimming at Guruvayur | Photo: J Philip
Guruvayur: Tusker Chenthamarakshan lay down calmly to get his long tusks trimmed and polished. The 27-year-old tusker looks more elegant now. The second phase of tusk trimming of the elephants in the Guruvayur elephant camp was held on Monday at south ‘nada’ of the temple.
It took four hours to trim and polish the 90-centimetre-long tusks of Chenthamarakshan. A 15-cm-long portion of the tusk was trimmed off and the remaining part was chiselled and smoothened. The tusks of only one elephant was trimmed on Monday.
The forest department officials safely covered and sealed the remnants of the trimmed parts of the tusks. After writing the mahaser, the tusks will be stored in the district treasury.
The tusks were trimmed by Thrissur native Smithesh. He started doing this job after his father Sasidharan, who used to trim tusks, died 4 years ago. Forest veterinary surgeon Dr David Abraham, section range officer Anil and elephant physician of Guruvayur Devaswom Dr Charujith attended the trimming session.
The tusks of the elephants in the camp were trimmed after obtaining special permission from the social forestry conservator. Last month, the tusks of seven elephants including Damodardas, Gopikrishnan, Devadas and Junior Kesavan were trimmed. The next phase will take place within two weeks.
Reason for trimming tusks
According to the Kerala Captive Elephants Rules, the tusk has to be trimmed when it grows longer. Unusually long tusks will impede free movement of the trunk. It will also create difficulty to lie down and get up easily.
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