South India’s famous Lantana elephants to raise their trunks for conservation funds

Having travelled from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala to the United Kingdom, the Lantana elephants have been auctioned to raise funds for conservation, with the challenge in mind to teach masses on how to co-exist with animals and reduce man-animal confrontations

Even as a herd of wandering elephants in China has the world glued to their adventures, another herd of elephants made their way to the UK from Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, Male Mahadeswara Hills in Karnataka and Wayanad in Kerala. The sculptures of Indian elephants were made of Lantana weed by indigenous communities in the hills. “The exhibition was held to promote the idea of coexistence, and change the way we think about conservation — from locking up nature in distant places to dwelling with nature around us,” says elephant conservationist Tarsh Thekaekara, who works with The Shola Trust, a non-profit, charitable trust involved in Nature conservation in the Nilgiris.