Kumki elephants will help tackle the menace of wild elephants, destroying crops and occasionally attacking people in Andhra Pradesh, by driving wild herds back into forest limits

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar felicitate Andhra Pradesh Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan during the event

Siddaramaiah said Karnataka had promised to hand over six kumki elephants, of which four were being transferred on Wednesday, and the remaining two will be sent later

According to Pawan Kalyan, the elephants will be kept in Chittoor and north coastal Andhra. These kumkis will be used to control the wild elephants in a bid to prevent animal-human conflicts

Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan thanked the Karnataka government for its support, praising its effective conflict mitigation strategies and noting that Andhra Pradesh has long sought solutions to the growing human-elephant conflict

When asked if this marked a new beginning between the two states, Pawan Kalyan agreed, noting that the Karnataka Deputy CM had also mentioned discussing the Tungabhadra water sharing issue with Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu. Kalyan assured he would take the request forward and help facilitate cooperation between both the states

The elephants given to Andhra Pradesh are: Krishna (15), which was captured in Chikkamagaluru in 2022; Shivamogga Abhimanyu (14), captured in Honnali in 2023; Deva (39), captured in Kushalnagar in 2019; and Ranjan (26), an elephant born in the Dubare camp

According to Siddaramaiah, there are 3,695 elephants in Karnataka, which is likely the highest in the country

He also said that Karnataka is in a position to provide elephants to other states. Emphasising on the rise in the human-elephant conflicts, Siddaramaiah stressed the importance of cooperation among all states to effectively prevent and manage such incidents