Tamil Nadu: Obese temple elephants put on crash diet

Madurai: Obesity has become a ‘jumbo’ problem now. It’s not just humans alone whose waistlines are bulging due to sedentary lifestyles, but elephants too. Administrators of the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai have begun to chant the fitness mantra for Parvathi, a 15-year old female elephant, and are said to have put her on a ‘diet’ from Wednesday.

On the prescription of a veterinarian, Parvathi is fed four kg boiled rice – two kg each in the morning and evening – instead of the 7 kg she relished until Tuesday. Her previous diet included two kg each of horse gram and green gram and 100 grams of palm jaggery. Parvathi’s new diet now includes illuk grass (dharpaippul), 200 litres of water, bananas, dates, apples and carrot.

To ensure that she slims down, the veterinarian has also prescribed exercise. “The doctor found that she weighed 4.32 tonnes, while normal pachyderms of the same age should weigh around 3.5 tonnes. We used to take her out in the mornings to Vaigai river bank. From Wednesday, Parvathi has commenced an evening walk regimen also,” P Bose Rajan, its mahout said. Madura Valli, a jumbo from the Koodal Alagar Perumal Temple has also been on a crash diet from November.

Administrators of the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai have begun to chant fitness mantra for Parvathi.

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