To raise public awareness about the need to protect wild creatures, replicas of elephants were installed at Edward Elliott's beach in Chennai. The replicas are made of lantana camara, an invasive weed that has been shown to inhibit the growth of other trees and plants in forests. Indian Administrative Officer Supriya Sahu shared a video of the same on Twitter. The IAS officer explained in the clip that these replicas were inspired by real elephants from the Mudumalai National Park.
"70 tribals from Mudumalai have worked hard to make these beautiful Elephants from lantana weed-an invasive species that has spread in forests across the country threatening biodiversity. In TN we have removed lantana,prosopis & other invasives from 1200 hectares so far #TNForest," she wrote in the caption of the video. Ms Sahu also explains that an expert group guided the tribals to help create the replicas.
The video has amassed one lakh views and over two thousand likes.
"Three cheers. Develop a museum to preserve their art work & establish a school to promote this art among the youngsters. Being a leader, you will take all possible steps to improve the income of these tribals so that they should feel that their creation work has been recognised," said one user.
A second person said, "Great Workmanship Madam. It is Fantastic.. Its Elegancy Should be Maintained. Those People are well versed in the art Of converting waste into Wealth. Kudos to them."
"Amazing it is ,a great initiative and above all a big salute to everyone involved," commented another person.
"Proud of Mudhumalai, Kudos to the department!" remarked another user.
Many also labelled it as an "incredible creation."
"Message is loud and clear, we all together are responsible to make our planet better and sustainable. Love these bio elephant," said another person.
