NEW LAW FOR CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS IN INDIA?

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http://www.ndtv.com/environment/Wildlife.asp?id=84885 & callid=1

 

 

Govt mulls new laws for domestic elephants

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NDTV Correspondent

 

Thursday, February 16, 2006 (New Delhi):

 

The UPA government is all set to remove restrictions in selling or

transporting domestic elephants in the country.

 

That means owners of elephants will no longer need the government's

permission to sell them, gift them, or move them to any part of the

country.

 

Threat to tuskers?

 

This Budget session, the government will move the Wildlife Protection

Amendment Bill. With this, elephants will become the only Schedule I

animal to be freed of such restrictions.

 

" We will be bringing the Wildlife Protection Amendment Bill in this

session of Parliament, " said Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Minister for

Parliamentary Affairs.

 

The government says it's a minor change. But wildlife activists are shocked.

 

They say this dilution of the Wildlife Protection Act will blur the

distinction between domestic elephant and those in the wild.

 

" Anyone can catch hold of a calf from the wild, say it's domesticated.

The animal can be sold anywhere in the country and the animal

disappears. Then how do we check which animal is domestic which is

wild? " asks Sudhir Mishra, Legal Consultant, WPSI.

 

Pressure from allies

 

The government is doing this under pressure from its south Indian

allies, who in turn are catering to the interests of powerful temple

trusts.

 

Temples in the south own most of the 2,500 odd domestic elephants in

the country. Activists say it will become easier for them to dispose

of an old elephant.

 

" The government had said that the captive elephants will be entitled

to a balanced diet, periodical medical check up, regulated working

hours and better living conditions.

 

" They should not be made to walk more than 30 km a day. All this was

done to check the growing incidents of cruelty to elephants. But most

of these guidelines are violated by the elephant owners, " said Leela

Latheef, People for Animals.

 

The rationalists say that the elephant population in India is

thriving. Activists argue the threat to the elephant has multiplied.

 

Caught in between are the Indian elephants, facing poaching, shrinking

forest cover and mounting conflict with humans.