AN ELEPHANTINE RUMPUS

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060322/asp/atleisure/story_5996624.asp

 

An elephantine rumpus

Animal rights activists are up in arms against the bill seeking to

relax restrictions on the elephant trade, reports

 

Big issue: If the Bill is passed, elephants may be sold like cattle in

the market

Elephants being sold like cattle in India? Well, this can soon be a

reality if the Centre has its way in passing the Wildife Protection

Amendment Bill. This will seek to relax restrictions on the sale and

trade of elephants.

 

According to a senior government official at the ministry of

environment and forests in Delhi, the Bill will be presented to

Parliament at the earliest opportunity. It will seek to amend Section

43 Subsection (2) of the Wildlife Protection Act, which states that

" where a person transfers or transports from the state in which he

resides to another state any animal, he shall report the transfer to

the Chief Wildlife Warden or the authorised officer within whose

jurisdiction the transfer is to be effected " . This means that all

interstate wild animal transfers ought to have the prior approval of

the respective state Chief Wildlife Wardens. However, peacock feathers

and zoo animals are exempt from the current legislation. Elephants

will be added to this list and can be traded with impunity if the new

law takes effect.

 

The change concerning the status of elephants is deemed 'minor',

according to the government. But wildlife organisations and their

legal brigade are up in arms. The move has been castigated by Maneka

Gandhi. In a letter to the Prime Minister dated February 22, 2006, she

describes the proposed change pertaining to elephants as " illogical

and a mockery of wildlife conservation. " She has also requested the

Prime Minister to forestall the amendment concerning elephants.

 

Wildlife activists fear that the new law will encourage the

mistreatment of elephants, which are used for begging in places like

Rajasthan where the climate is unsuitable for the animals. Gandhi says

that last year, 348 elephants were killed in India and the amendment

will only abet such carnage.

 

" In view of the prevalent confusion in Section 40 of the Wildlife

Protection Act, it would be extremely unfortunate if a further

concession is made by relaxing Section 43, " argues Brindha Nandakumar,

legal consultant to CUPA (Compassion Unlimited Plus Action) in

Bangalore. CUPA has been at the forefront of elephant welfare in

India, having conducted a nationwide survey on the status of elephants

in captivity last year. The " confusion " arises from the amendment to

the Wildlife Protection Act made in 2002 which already grants a

concession to elephants being procured by inheritance.

 

The other change the government is mulling over is the inclusion of

CITES (Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of

Flora and Fauna) regulations as a separate chapter in the amended

version of the Act. " Whereas most of the CITES laws are already within

the framework of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, we intend to

introduce CITES Convention guidelines since international authorities

were pressing for it, " says a senior environment ministry official.

 

CITES regulations cover both animals and plants and member countries

act by banning and regulating commercial trade in an agreed list of

endangered species. The Convention came into effect on July 1, 1975

and is today the largest wildlife conservation agreement in existence

in the world. India became a party to this convention in July, 1974.

In the Indian context, the legislative basis for implementing CITES

lies in the export-import control orders and the Customs Act of 1962

at the points of import and export and by the state Chief Wildlife

Wardens under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

 

Wildlife activists welcome the inclusion of the CITES regulation, but

they say it is a dichotomous message that the government is sending

across by amending Section 43 and introducing CITES at the same time.

Says Sudhir Mishra, legal consultant to the Wildlife Protection

Society of India, " CITES bolsters wildlife protection, but if captive

elephants could be offered for sale, the implications would be awful

for conservation. "

 

Kishor Chaudhuri, a Calcutta based elephant researcher who is a Fellow

of the Royal Geographical Society and a consultant to the National

Environment Engineering Research Institute, supports Mishra. " The

amendment is likely to pave the way for culling elephants in the

future. Also, it will lead to more conflict between humans and

animals, " he rues. According to Chaudhuri, it is an absolutely

antithetical move to downgrade elephants from their original Schedule

I status since the professed number of elephants is four times the

actual population. " It is also genetically impossible to identify

domestic elephants. So how can we be sure that the trade being

proposed will take place according to the law book? Would not the

CITES inclusion become meaningless then? " he asks.

 

But the amendment is getting support from some quarters. Kushal

Mukherjee, a member of the National Board of Wildlife and founder of

Prakriti Samsad, a Calcutta-based environmental non governmental

organisation, is willing to consider both sides of the coin. " To

comprehensively condemn the new proposal for elephants would seem

unwise. In a situation where around 80 people are being killed a year

in West Bengal by elephants, a time would come when we would have to

seriously consider relocating elephants and the new amendment might

aid this, " he reasons.

 

Whatever the outcome of the proposed law may be, as far as Indian

wildlife goes it has certainly stirred a hornet's nest.