Travel permit denial gives Kerala elephants Maha relief

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_travel-permit-denial-gives-kerala-elephants-maha-relief_1763456

Seven elephants from Kerala were saved from a tiring Diwali after the state forest department denied permission for transporting the pachyderms all the way to Maharashtra for a three-day festival.

Held from November 9 to 11 at Dombivli, Mumbai Pooram’s main attraction, as displayed on the website by the organisers, was to be a parade of seven gold-caparisoned elephants amid a lavish display of fireworks.

State forest department sources said the organisers had not sought permission for the procession from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI). A statutory body under the ministry of environment and forests, AWBI has been formed to monitor animal welfare rights in India.

“The organisers never approached us for the requisite permissions. Parading elephants transported from up to 1,500km amid noisy fireworks would clearly have been a violation of the Performing Animals (Registration) Rules, 2001, under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the Animal Transport Rules,” said Chinny Krishna, vice-chairman, AWBI.

SH Naqvi, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), said, “In inter-state events such as these permissions from state ministries, in this case Kerala and Maharashtra, are required. The organisers were not granted permission to enter the state border as they had not sought the necessary clearances from the Centre.”

Besides instructions from AWBI to not grant permission to the organisers, the state forest department had received up to eight petitions from animal rights activists condemning the transport of these elephants from Kerala to Maharashtra.

The organisers, however, said that the state forest department had given permission for transporting five elephants to Mumbai last year, but it denied permission this year.

“We were able to transport elephants last year without AWBI’s permission. This year, we were informed that inter-state transport of elephants won’t be allowed. This is unfair; we are animal lovers too. We take the requisite care, we make sure that the elephants don’t travel more than 200km at a stretch. They are fed properly and there is a veterinary doctor on call at all times during the travel,” said Bhupesh Babu, a Vashi-based builder and one of the organisers.

Kerala clueless in dealing with man-animal conflicts

KOCHI: Kerala is yet to evolve effective protocols to deal with emergency situations when carnivores stray into human settlements. The killing of a leopard in Pathanamthitta on Saturday once again exposes poor reaction mechanism to deal with such situations.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) had issued a circular on April 18, 2011, suggesting broad guidelines for dealing man-leopard conflicts.
The MoEF guidelines outline a three-pronged strategy. "Awareness generation amongst local communities, media, and officials of various government departments is vital to educate stakeholders about the issue," it said.

"The second important component is establishing two trained teams to handle conflict emergencies. The Primary Response team (PR) should consist of local community representatives trained in crowd management. Their basic role will be to secure the area before the arrival of the Emergency Response (ER) team."

The ER team comprising forest department officials and trained veterinary staff, will need to deal with the animal in a situation-specific manner.
"Whenever a wild animal strays into human settlement, it is often the crowd who manages the whole situation. Hardly any efforts are seen being made to keep off the crowd to control them," P S Easa, wildlife expert with the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), told TOI here.

Jayachandran of SPCA Idukki district said there was total lack of coordination between various departments in such situations. For instance, when a leopard strayed into Thodupuzha area couple of years ago the authorities chose to wait till the tranquilization specialists came from Thrissur. This was despite the fact that the close-by district level office animal husbandry department had the expertise and equipment to the tranquilize animals.

When contacted, the PCCF and Chief Wildlife Warden V Gopinathan, told TOI here that the forest department has circulated the MOEF guidelines to different forest offices in the state. "But it is difficult to control the huge crowd in such situations in Kerala. They are so excited and irate, and any agency will find it difficult to persuade them remain calm in such situations."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Kerala-clueless-in-dealing-with-man-animal-conflicts/articleshow/14740670.cms 

30 cows crammed in a truck rescued at Chengalpet, 5 held

CHENNAI: Animal welfare activists and police rescued on Friday about 30 cows being taken from Andhra Pradesh to Kerala for slaughter. The cows, crammed into a truck, were being transported from Tilaru village near the AP-Orissa border.

Around 10.15am, when the truck was parked near the Chenagalpet toll plaza, some residents of a nearby village found the animals in the vehicle and alerted the police and the Blue Cross of India. "We rushed there with a medical kit and were shocked to see that most of the animals were sick and weak," said Dawn Williams, general manager of Blue Cross. All the cows were tied to a wooden frame. One of them was with a broken leg and while another four were in a dehydrated state, Blue Cross officials said. "We sent the cattle to the Blue Cross rescue centre in Chennai for medical attention," Chengalpet Taluk sub-inspector S Sivagnanam said.

The animals, Blue Cross officials said, were being transported in violation of the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, the Transport of Animals Rules, 1978, and section 378, 379, 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code. Under these provisions, persons can be sentenced up to five years of imprisonment. "As per transport rules, a truck can carry six animals as a cow or bull needs two square metres of space. We find overloaded trucks carrying cattle nearly every day on GST Road and on the Chennai-Bangalore Highway," said honorary joint secretary of Blue Cross, Satya Radhakrishnan.

Based on a complaint from Williams, five people, including truck driver S Karupaiyah,31, of Dindigul, were arrested. On February 7, animal welfare activists and police had rescued 26 buffaloes and two bulls being transported for slaughter from Andhra Pradesh to Kerala near Chengalpet. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/30-cows-crammed-in-a-truck-rescued-at-Chengalpet-5-held/articleshow/11933283.cms