Students in Amravati celebrate World Elephant Day with cake for tuskers

Amravati (Maharashtra): Students from a school in Maharashtra's Amravati district have celebrated the World Elephant Day in a novel way by cutting a cake for four tuskers and waving to them, a forest official said on Tuesday.

The students were also told about the importance of saving elephants at the event organised in Amravati's Kolkas area, which comes under the Melghat Tiger Reserve, on the occasion of the World Elephant Day on Monday, he said.

The forest department had invited students of the Zilla Parishad school at Semadoh in Melghat area for the event in the Kolkas forest area, which houses four elephants - Jayashree, Champakali, Lakshmi and Sundarmala.

The students cut a cake to celebrate the occasion and waved to the jumbos, the official said.

Forest officials informed the students about an importance of saving elephants, in the wake of the human-wildlife conflict and habitat destruction continuing to threaten the pachyderms, he said.

"Elephants are important ecosystem engineers. They make paths in the dense forest habitats that allow other animals to pass through," the official said.

Elephants help to conserve the environment and are inextricably linked to the rich biodiversity, he said.

An elephant safari is available for tourists in the Kolkas area, the official said.