Hiranya panics while Rohit stands still

Mysuru: The second phase of cannon firing drill to get Dasara elephants and horses accustomed to the booming sound of cannons was held successfully at Dasara Exhibition parking lot in city yesterday.

While Rohit, who had panicked on hearing the cannon sound during the first drill, stood still this time, Kumki elephant Hiranya panicked a bit but was controlled by her mahout and kavadi.

The cannon firing drill is conducted by the Pirangi Dal staff drawn from City Armed Reserve (CAR) Police force. A total of 21 shots are fired in three rounds using seven cannons.

Varalakshmi exempted: A total of 14 Dasara elephants have arrived to take part in Dasara out of which Varalakshmi, the senior most elephant, has been exempted from taking part in the firing drill. The remaining 13 elephants, led by Captain Abhimanyu took part in the cannon firing drill yesterday.

Experiment with crackers: During the first phase of cannon firing drill, elephants Rohit, Hiranya and Doddaharave Lakshmi had panicked. In this backdrop, crackers were burst before commencing the cannon firing as an experiment and only after the elephants and horses remained calm to the crackers sound, cannons were fired.

Hiranya panics: Before the commencement of cannon firing, Hiranya was separated from other elephants which were standing in a line. Hiranya was made to stand behind other Dasara jumbos where her mahout, kavadi and caretakers were trying to calm her.

While Hiranya was being calmed down, the cannon firing drill began and on hearing the booming sound coming out of the seven cannons, Hiranya panicked and suddenly turned towards her right bringing her kavadi who was holding her trunk to her right side making it look like she dragged the kavadi with her trunk.

Later, Hiranya began to obey the commands of her mahout and kavadi and after the cannon firing drill concluded, she (Hiranya) was brought back to the Palace along with other elephants.

Jumbos rush towards cannons: When the third and final round of cannon firing began, the jumbos began to move towards the cannons when they were being fired. As soon as Abhimanyu took its first step towards the cannons, Mahendra, Bheema, Dhananjaya, Prashanth, Sugreeva, Gopi, Kanjan, Ekalavya, Lakshmi and Doddaharave Lakshmi among other elephants began to walk towards the cannons. By the time 21 shots were fired, all the elephants had come near the cannons, inhaled the gunpowder smoke and lifted their trunks as a show of courage.

DCF (Wildlife) Dr. I.B. Prabhu Gowda, Forest Mobile Squad DCF Dr. Chandrashekar Patil, Mounted Police Commandant V. Shailendra, Palace Security ACP Chandrashekar, CAR ACP Satish, RFO Santosh Hugar, Veterinarians Dr. Mujeeb Rehman and Dr. Waseem Mirza and others were present.