For over 30 years she has seen numerous animals, keepers, mahouts come and go in the city’s only zoo. But more than that she has seen the zoo grow. After all, she 54-year-old elephant Laxmi is the oldest resident in Jijamata Udyan zoo, Byculla. And everyone is fond of her mahouts, keepers and the public.
Her mahouts say Laxmi was brought to the zoo in 1976, along with two other elephants from a fair around Kolkata. Since then she has made this zoo her home and the mahouts her family.
“Three generations of my family have been working in this zoo for almost a century. My father was among those who went with the zoo officials to pick Laxmi up. We are as attached to her as she is to us. She doesn’t listen to anyone else,” says her mahout Mohd.
Sajid Khan who has himself been around for more than 15 years. Indeed, known for her fierce temper, Laxmi has had her share of spats with the human beings. But one won’t know that seeing Laxmi quietly savouring her daily diet of carrots, husks, sugarcane, bananas and grass.
However, in 2011, a man who was reportedly under the influence of drugs entered her enclosure only to be killed by the pachyderm. Laxmi lifted him with her trunk and bashed him against a wall.
“She has a personality and even has a little bit of a temper. Visitors to the zoo get noisy sometimes and that agitates most animals. People don’t understand that these are not pet animals and they have to be observed from a distance,” says Khan, as Laxmi tries to attract his attention with her trunk, evidently annoyed at being ignored.
A few years back the elephants were supposed to be moved out of the zoo to a protected sanctuary. But because of their old age and inability to adapt to new surroundings they were kept back in the company of mahouts who are extremely fond of them.
While Laxmi is the oldest among the resident animals, Prakash Gangaram Kadam, 55, is the oldest zoo keeper. He has been working in the zoo for more than 34 years and is currently the head zoo keeper. As per norms, an employee in the zoo serves the first few years as a labour taking up the responsibility of any animal. When his turn came, Kadam got to handle the moody and unpredictable snakes.
“After four years of serving as a labour, I got promoted as a zoo keeper in 1981 and now I feel blessed for getting the opportunity to take care of animals. You have to have a strong and persistent interest in animals to do this job. Especially with snakes, a lot of presence of mind is required,” he says.
He insists people need to be educated about wild animals. He recalls the incident of a little boy who had fallen into the rhino Shiva’s enclosure few years ago. Kadam promptly sent people to distract the charging rhino, as he jumped in and pulled the boy out.
“It was scary but at that time all I could think of was that little boy. These incidents keep happening all the time. People need to be informed about wild animals. They need to understand that animals require their space and are not there to entertain human beings,” says Kadam who will retire in 2015 ahead of the zoo’s complete renovation.
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