Click to play videoPuthenkulam (Kerala): Take Kerala’s love for elephants and add to it an elephant who is turning one and what you get is a gala birthday bash.
Baby elephant Sivan turned one on Wednesday and his birthday celebration was an event people in Puthenkulam will remember for years to come. People came in hundreds to wish him, among them a former minister and actor Ganesh Kumar, but no one had doubts about who the VIP was for this one day.
Sivan’s guardian Shaji was overwhelmed by the response his baby elephant got and said, “I have had a great year after Sivan was born. Tourists have been flocking to see him. I think it’s all due to Sivan that today I am doing well.”
Other elephants, too, had assembled in all grandeur to greet Sivan even as percussionists gave a rousing welcome to the birthday boy.
Enjoying the festivities, Sivan also shook a leg in company of his mother Lakshmi. And for the tourists who came to witness the event, it was a day of double bonanza.
“Oh! We didn’t know that it was his birthday. This is just wonderful. We just came to see the elephants here. It’s real good to be here,” a tourist, Paul said.
If somebody was missed at the event, it was Sivan's father. That's because he and his mother have come from Bihar. The veterinary doctors here say from now on they will encourage captive breeding.
“Our next aim is to have a baby whose parents are known. Our intentions are to collect semen from one of the best male elephants in this area and have a baby by 2010,” Doctor Aravind at the animal shelter said.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.