Budhilal, who has been taking care of Rudrakali for 4 years, says, ”This elephant, which listens to my voice and says 'come' and does not do anything when I say 'don't do it', was like a member of my family, now it is moving away from it.”
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Budhilal Shrestha, who was leaving for Qatar, was bid farewell by his mother Rammaya and wife Shobha on Monday, feeding him curd as auspicious food.
Qatar is a major destination for Nepali workers. But Budhilal is going to Qatar for a different role. Rudrakali, an elephant from Khairhani Municipality-10, was also on his way to Qatar with him. Budhilal is the mahout of the same elephant.
Nepal had announced to gift an elephant to Qatar when the then President Bidya Devi Bhandari visited Qatar in 2075 BS. Later, in Baisakh 2081 BS, there was talk of sending it when the Emir (King) of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, visited Nepal. But since elephants are rare wildlife and the climate of Chitwan and Qatar is different, it has been delayed due to the coordination of national, international laws, laws, procedures and elephant management issues. Finally, Khagendra Prasad will travel to Qatar on Wednesday along with Rudrakali by cargo plane.
Ratnanagar Municipality Mayor Pralhad Sapkota, Chitwan Chief District Officer Ganesh Aryal and others were present at a program organized by Chitwan National Park in Sauraha on Monday to bid farewell to the elephant going to Qatar.
After leaving the eastern sector office of the park, Rudrakali and Khagendra Prasad were taken to Khairhani Municipality-1 by their handlers, Budhilal and Panchu Khan Tharu, after walking about 11 kilometers to Tarkari Chowk. From there, the elephants were placed in two large steel cages specially built at the Menka Engineering Workshop along the East-West Highway, and then loaded into separate trucks and taken to Bhairahawa on Monday evening. Both the elephants will be bid farewell at a special program to be held in Bhairahawa on Wednesday and taken to Qatar via a Qatar Airways cargo plane.
‘I feel a little sad when I take the elephant I have taken care of from here and go to Qatar,’ says 44-year-old Budhilal, who has been involved in the mahout profession for 22 years, and has been taking care of Rudrakali for the past 4 years. He added that he is always with Rudrakali from the time he wakes up in the morning until he is tied up at night, "This elephant that listens to my voice and comes and does not do anything when I say 'no' was like a member of my family, now it is being separated from it. Even remembering this, my heart is saddened." Meanwhile, Chitwan National Park's animal health technician Dinesh Dhakal, along with its handlers Budhilal and Panchu Khan Tharu, are also leaving Rudrakali and Khagendra Prasad for Qatar. They will return in about a month after the Nepali elephants get used to the Qatari climate. "No one from my family has gone abroad so far, I have to leave Rudrakali there. I feel like I am leaving a family member behind," Budhilal expressed his sadness.
Panchu from Parsa, who came to Chitwan nine years ago, has also been Khagendra Prasad's handler for four years. "Khagendra Prasad is an elephant who listens to a lot of things his handler says. It used to put flower garlands around the necks of those who came to visit Khorsor as we told it. If it started to get a little bit tricky, it wouldn't do it after we told it not to do it (in the mahout's language),' said Panchu, 'But I will take the elephant I was riding abroad myself and return. Even if I leave the
, it will be difficult for it to forget me.' These two elephants will be kept in Qatar's air-conditioned 'Alkhor Zoo'. Although the geography and climate of Khorsor and Alkhor are different, Qatar is going to take these elephants at its own transportation expense after creating an environment conducive to elephants. 'After our technicians reached Qatar's Alkhor Zoo and studied it, the government made a formal decision on 2 Kartik last year to give the elephants to Qatar,' said Ganesh Pant, senior conservation officer who is the head of Chitwan National Park. Budhilal and Panchu are going there to teach local employees how to take care of elephants.
Animal health technicians are also going to Chitwan to treat the elephants in case they encounter any problems on the way to Qatar or if they experience any difficulties in the new environment. ‘The medicines used in Qatar and Nepal are not much different. These elephants are healthy. There is no need to give them regular medicines. We are going to see if any sudden problems may arise,’ said Dinesh Dhakal, an animal health technician at Chitwan National Park. He is also going there for a month.
If the elephant is a female, it is customary to add ‘kali’ or ‘mala’ to its name, and if it is a male, ‘gaja’ or ‘prasad’ to its name. Therefore, Khagendra Prasad is a male elephant and Rudrakali is a female elephant. Although the provisions and procedures of the International Convention on the Conservation of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) apply when transporting elephants, these two elephants are domesticated elephants. Elephants are a species listed in Appendix 1 of CITES. This includes species that are on the verge of extinction. Trade in animals and plants on this list is controlled. However, they can be transported for research, educational purposes or for the purpose of keeping in zoos. However, this work can only be done on the recommendation of the management and scientific bodies of the concerned country.
Before issuing an export and import license for Schedule I species, the relevant scientific bodies must be satisfied that the operation will not harm the survival of the species and that the importer is capable of taking care of it. The last five/seven years have been spent in fulfilling these provisions of CITES and in other administrative preparations.
Rudrakali was born on 9 October 2018, while Khagendra Prasad was born on 25 September 2019. Training begins at the Khorso breeding center two and a half to three years after the elephant is born. Therefore, both these elephants are trained. After completing the training, the domesticated elephants follow the mahout's instructions and act accordingly.
Qatar is a major foreign employment destination for Nepal. Alkhor July has been specially prepared to house Rudrakali and Khagendra Prasad, who are gifts from Nepalis to Qatar, the employment destination. Although the geography and climate of Khorsor and Alkhor are different, Qatar has taken the elephants by creating an environment that is conducive to elephants.
The construction of the cage for transporting the elephants and other expenses have been borne by the National Nature Conservation Fund. Construction of the cage for keeping the elephants began when Dashain began. The cage, which is nine feet high, 6 feet 8 inches wide and 14 feet long, weighs about three tons. Rudrakali weighs 1,500 kg and Khagendra Prasad weighs 1,600 kg. The construction cost of one cage is more than five hundred thousand rupees. Although the cage was initially planned to be built for 497 thousand rupees, the cost has increased due to changes in the design later, said Harisharan Pathak of Menka Engineering.
