Our Rukku

Rukku, our beautiful female elephant residing at Arunachaleswarar Temple who is now around 15 years old was born in the Mudumalai Theppakadu Elephant Camp. The below extract from the data base of Elephant News, is for all intents and purposes Rukku's birth certificate, which you can view at this link here.

To all elephant lovers, make sure to visit the absolute Elephant information encyclopedia and database at this link here. 

Around December 19, 2014 Rukku left the Temple and Tiruvannamalai on her way to a six week rejuvenation camp. To read an earlier posting go to my narrative at this link here. 

There are many interested parties around India working to win freedom for all captive elephants which also includes Temple Elephants. So maybe one day our sweet Rukku will be allowed to make a journey to the Reserve Forests without having to return to a captive life.

The next three photographs are of Rukku's return from Holiday at the Rejuvenation Camp. 

Oh! dear, back to work

If only my holiday would last forever

Thought I would never see that stick again!

Last week I escorted 12 participants of the Padma Torsten 2014 Retreat on a tour of Arunachaleswarar Temple. I explained to members of the group (before we visited the Temple) that Rukku is a captive sentient being and it is perhaps inappropriate to visit her looking to see party tricks. In this respect most elephants in this country are trained to take money from a person's hand, pass the coin to the mahout (trainer) and then touch the supplicant's head with the trunk. 

My suggestion to the group was instead of going to the Temple making demands on the poor creature, we should instead go with treats and joy and give gentle Rukku some group love. After intense Googling to discover the favoured snacks of Elephants, we turned up at the Temple with a four kg mix of delicious Elephant-friendly treats. After permission from the mahout, we happily hand fed our dear Rukku.

Rukku

Snack time for our girl