(IN) Can you believe it? Long live Wildlife Protection Act !

July 10, 2009

Row over transfer of Govt-owned elephants

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First Published : 08 Jul 2009 12:28:00 AM IST

Last Updated : 08 Jul 2009 10:31:12 AM IST

KOCHI: A fresh controversy is brewing up in the State with regard to

transfer of Government-owned captive elephants to individuals in connivance with

some officials in the Forest Department.

The nexus between the Forest officials and the mafia came to light after the

death of a captive elephant ‘Mahesh’ at Erattupeta on July 4. According to

Elephant Lovers’ Association secretary V K Venkatachalam, the elephant

belonging to Kodanadu elephant camp was transferred to a timber merchant at

Aluva and it was later transferred to another timber merchant at Erattupetta

flouting norms.

Venkatachalam alleged that the elephant had been illegally transferred from

one district to another with the support of certain Forest officials. He

added that the elephant had been brutally tortured and there had been an

organised move from various quarters to hush up the matter by not conducting

a proper inquest. “The mafia just wanted to claim the insurance amount and

sell the tusk of the elephant.

There were several such incidents in the past and 15 other captive elephants

had died under mysterious circumstances during the last eight months,” he

said.

Venkatachalam said that the association had written a letter to the Prime

Minister and the Kerala Chief Minister in this regard.

Chief Wildlife K A Ouseph said the Department would launch an inquiry into the

death

of the elephant at Erattupetta. “I have already directed the District Forest

Officers (DFOs) concerned to look into the issue,” he said.

Denying the allegation that certain officials were transferring

Government-owned elephants illegally to private parties, he said that it was

impossible to transfer a State-owned elephant to an individual.

“We have the details of all the State-owned captive elephants. Earlier,

there was a practice to sell the elephants by inviting tenders, but now we

have stopped that due to shortage of elephants,” he added.

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