Alappuzha: Jayakrishnan, Raja and Madhavan stood patiently in the drizzling rain as they waited for a minister to come and distribute their ration.

As they were waiting, the tyres of the vehicle that was bringing their ration got stuck in mud. They did not hesitate a bit when they were called in to help extricate the vehicle — they lent their ‘hand’ to get the vehicle out.

Finally, when the minister came and gave them a sack of wheat, the elephants raised their trunks in salutation.

The launch of the scheme to distribute free ration to captive elephants in the state thus became a spectacle.

Jayakrishnan, Raja and Madhavan, owned by Krishnaprasad of Mararikulam, became the first captive elephants in Kerala to benefit from the scheme drafted by the state Forest Department and launched by the animal husbandry department to revive the health of the jumbos that had to face starvation due to the paucity of fodder caused by the COVID-19 lockdown.

Kerala Minister for Food and Civil Supplies P Thilothaman signalled the launch of the scheme by opening the sack of wheat and giving it to the elephants.

The scheme of providing solid food to elephants is a part of the state government’s initiatives to ensure that no one, not even animals, ends up starving due to the restrictions that were imposed as part of the COVID-19 lockdown, the minister said.

The ration kit for each elephant has eight types of food that can last for 40 days. The kit has rice (120 kg), wheat (160 kg), ragi (120 kg), green gram (20 kg), horse gram (20 kg), salt (2.2 kg), turmeric (400 grammes) and jaggery (6 kg).

The state government said it will be spending Rs 400 daily on feeding a captive elephant. The kit, therefore, will be worth Rs 16,000 (for 40 days) for each elephant, it said.

A captive elephant needs fodder worth Rs 800 daily. The rest of the expenses will be borne by the owner.

The animal husbandry department will provide daily ration worth Rs400.

In Alappuzha district, the state government will provide the ration first to 17 elephants aged above 15 belonging to 10 owners.

As the temple festival season was a washout due to the COVID outbreak, the owners of captive elephants had to suffer huge losses.

The owners had approached the chief minister seeking aid to take care of the elephants. The free ration scheme for elephants has been launched in response to the request.

During temple festivals and other occasions, some owners earn as much as Rs 2 lakh daily.

The government plans to cover 252 captive elephants under private ownership in the state under the scheme.

Kerala has about 600 captive elephants. The Animal Husbandry Department said the benefits of the nutrition scheme will go to elephants shortlisted by the forest department.

The state government has given the animal husbandry department Rs 5 crore to help it deal with the crisis in animal care caused by the COVID outbreak.