Elephant Gajendra dropped from Dasara march this year

MYSURU: Veteran Dasara jumbo Gajendra, 26, which attacked and killed his mahout and another elephant, Srirama, at the K Gudi elephant camp in BRT Tiger Reserve in Chamarajanagar recently, has been dropped from the probables for Dasara 2015.
Gajendra was in musth when he had killed his mahout Ganapathi, 45, and Srirama in mid-March this year. Gajendra has participated in nearly 20 Dasara celebrations and was mainly used as a 'Pattada Ane' to perform various rituals at Mysuru Palace during the 10-day celebrations which commence mid-October.Though he is now out of musth, officials don't want to take any chances.
Foresters have vetted the Dasara jumbos with visits to elephant camps in Bandipur, Nagarahole and BRT Tiger Reserve, and have begun finalizing the list. A preliminary meeting comprising forest officials attached to wildlife, territorial, national parks and Project Elephant was convened at Aranya Bhavan in Mysuru.
In all, 14 elephants will be roped in for the Dasara celebrations. The first batch will arrive in Mysuru late August or early September, and stay put at Mysuru Palace as part of the rehearsal.
DCF (wildlife) K Kamala said at the preliminary meeting, officials had selected 10 elephants including the golden howdah-carrying elephant Arjuna and veteran Balarama. "We have initiated the tender process to give time for contractors for various works," she said.
Abhimanyu, Gopalswamy, Prashantha, Harsha, Vikrama, Cauvery, Durgaparameshwari and Chaitra, too, have been named in the probable list and another four new elephants will be included shortly. "We're planning to give new elephants an opportunity after checking their past life," explained Kamala. But the final list will be drawn up after the Dasara high-power committee meeting is held by the chief minister.
CCF Parameshwarappa, Project Elephant APCCF Udaykumar, DCF V Karikalan, vets DN Nagaraj and KS Umashankar and directors of national parks discussed the selection of elephants.