Plea against transfer of 29 elephants to Madhya Pradesh

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday asked the Union government, the Animal Welfare Board of India, Principal Secretary to the Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment to file a counter affidavit within six weeks against the petition on the translocation of elephants from the state.

The petition filed by the Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) and the People For Animals (PFA) has alleged the state government has decided to transfer 29 elephants to Madhya Pradesh.They cited a report in an English daily published on May 12 stating that the state government was planning to hand over captive elephants to Madhya Pradesh government for use in safaris in that state, and that 29 elephants had been identified for such a transfer.

On May 14, the NGOs wrote letters to the principal conservator of forests objecting to the translocation of the elephants. Since the state government seemed keen on pursuing the transfers, the petitioners decided to approach the court.

The NGOs argued that the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 prohibits the sale of elephants. The elephants, if transferred, would be separated from the family groups. The translocation of such a huge number of elephants would result in degeneration of the forest, since each elephant requires 250kg of fodder every day. They are extremely vulnerable to tuberculosis when they come into contact with human beings.

The activists sought a direction from the court to issue a writ not to sell, transfer or translocate elephants from Karnataka.

The state government counsel has submitted that a decision had been taken not to translocate captive elephants to Madhya Pradesh or to any other part of the country.

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_plea-against-transfer-of-29-elephants-to-madhya-pradesh_1701661