TWO talented children have earned themselves top prizes from a Wotton-under-Edge trekking company as it welcomed the newest addition to the store - a 138kg elephant all the way from India.

In preparation for the statue's arrival, which took almost a month to travel from Kerala in Southern India to Wotton-under-Edge's High Street, Mountain Kingdoms held two competitions for nearby schoolchildren to both colour and name the 30ins-high handmade elephant.

Blue Coat School pupil Susie York, 10, from Wotton-under-Edge came out on top in the colouring competition while fellow pupil Matthew Brooks, seven, from Dursley won the naming competition after he decided the elephant should be called Raja, meaning king in Hindu.

For their efforts both won a WWF adopt an Asian elephant pack on Wednesday, August 7, which includes a cuddly toy elephant, fact book and stickers as well as three issues of Wild World magazine.

Managing director of Mountain Kingdoms, Steve Berry said it was nice to see the children getting involved in the competition and now saw children waving hello to the statue on their way to school in the morning.

"Personally I had always wanted to own a large wooden elephant having seen so many examples on my travels around India over a period of over 35 years," he said.

"It is very good to see Raja in our entrance lobby, and looking very handsome now that I have polished him with black shoe polish."