Kathmandu, December 17:

The Elephant Training Workshop concluded at the Khorsor (Chitwan)-based Elephant Breeding Centre today, the WWF Nepal said in a press release.

Dr Kamal Gairhe, an expert on elephant treatment, Chandra Man Tamang of the Bardia Hattisar (elephant breeding centre), staffers of other government-run elephant breeding centres and National Trust for Nature Conservation were among the participants.

The training was conducted under the guidance of Dr Andrew McLean from Australia, Tuikku Kaimio from Finland and scientist Marc Pierard from Belgium. Mclean is an internationally recognised expert on animal training. Kaimio conducted the workshop last year.

During this workshop, three young elephants from Khorsor received basic training, and all three proceeded quickly in their learning. They were habituated to calmly accept a mahout sitting on them and to respond correctly to the signals for moving forward, backward, stop and turn.