Please save this elephant from the custodian

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A warning to elephant owners

 

 

 

R.

Ayyappan<http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/searchresult.aspx?AliasName=O39L0ZwV\

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First Published : 04 Dec 2009 12:22:00 AM IST

Last Updated : 04 Dec 2009 12:03:38 PM IST

 

There are plans to transfer a nine-year-old she elephant called Sreelakshmi

from far north of the State in Neeleshwaram to the Elephant Rehabilitation

Centre here in Kottur. If this happens, the Forest Department would make

history. The elephant will be the first one to be seized by the Department

from a private owner in the State.

 

“It is true that we have not seized a captive elephant from a private party

before. This will be a beginning,’’ Chief Wildlife Warden K.P. Ouseph said.

 

The Chief Wildlife Warden’s statement is also a warning, aimed primarily at

owners not taking proper care of the elephants under their care. Sreelakshmi

was anyway government property as it did not possess an ownership

certificate.

 

The transfer to Kottur very nearly took place. A Government Order was issued

for the translocation of the elephant to Kottur on July 10 this year.

 

At that point, the elephant was in the custody of the Kerala Financial

Corporation (KFC), which had been writing without let to the Forest

Department to relieve itself of the upkeep of the elephant. The KFC took

over the care of the elephant after the she calf was found abandoned on the

premises of a resort that it had confiscated.

 

Nothing moved, even two months after the GO was issued. Then, on October 13,

another GO was issued according sanction to the Zoo Director to receive the

elephant as “gift from the Kerala Financial Corporation’’. This order was

effectively nullified when the Central Zoo Authority banned the showcase of

elephants in zoos across the country.

 

By this time, the KFC was at its wit’s end; the mahout it had employed was

throwing tantrums and the management of the elephant was turning problematic

with every passing day. “Since the Corporation is facing some acute logistic

problems related to the mahout, we request you to transport the elephant to

Kottur immediately. K.K.S. Nambiar, the earlier custodian of the elephant

and in whose possession the elephant was, has now come forward to take back

the elephant,’’ the KFC chief manager wrote to the Chief Wildlife Warden.

 

KFC, then, set a deadline too. “Translocate the elephant preferably before

November 11.’’

 

The Forest Department failed to respond. So, when the earlier custodian of

the elephant (one of the owners of the confiscated resort), K.K.S. Nambiar,

approached the KFC and sought custody of the elephant, the KFC authorities

might have heaved a sigh of relief. The KFC, after extracting from Nambiar

all the money it had spent on the elephant, handed over the nine-year-old to

its former caretaker.

 

Now, the Forest Department seems to have lost interest. “The Kannur DFO has

reported that the elephant is now being satisfactorily taken care of. I will

seek a clarification from the Government and do what is necessary,’’ the

Chief Wildlife Warden said.

 

Kottur Range Officer Santhosh Kumar said that he had not received any

intimation about the arrival of an elephant.

 

However, Elephant Lovers’ Association secretary V.K. Venkitachalam said the

Kottur forest would be the most ideal place to rehabilitate Sreelakshmi.

 

“Now it does not possess a decent shelter and will be subjected to sunlight

and rainfall. This will in turn affect its health. But at the Kottur

Rehabilitation Centre, the elephant will be free to live its life,’’

Venkitachalam said.

 

The 56-hectare Kottur Elephant Rehabilitation Centre is within the 31 sq km

of Kottur range and presently houses just four of the Department’s elephants