Forest department seeks states’ help to house Delhi’s elephants
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government’s forest department has written to its counterparts in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand to take three of the city’s seven domestic elephants.
The department had earlier rejected the sites suggested by their owners to house the animals on the grounds that they were not “suitable”.
Three other elephants were sent to a trust in Gujarat last December while a female elephant owned by the chairman of a private company will continue to live in Delhi.
The elephants had to be shifted out of Delhi as the city does not provide a natural habitat to house these animals. The Delhi High Court had asked the forest department to ‘seize’ these animals and rehabilitate them.
“We have written to the MP, Haryana and Uttarakhand forest departments to take these elephants. While Uttarakhand’s Rajaji National Park was willing to take one, the matter is still in process,” said a senior official of the forest department requesting anonymity.
The sites suggested by the owners, including Baghpat and Ghaziabad, were rejected as these did not meet the parameters to house the animals, the official said.
At present, the three elephants live on the banks of the Yamuna with their owners. Of these, two have been sick because of which rehabilitating them has been an issue.
According to animal activists, all the elephants had foot ailments because of walking on tarred roads and being used illegally for weddings and events at farmhouses.
Mehboob Ali, who owns two of these elephants, said they had identified a spot in Baghpat with mango groves surrounded by agricultural fields on two sides for housing the animals. “Earlier a team of the forest department and Central Zoo Authority had inspected the site and even found it suitable. However, it was later rejected,” Ali said.
Gauri Malukehi, animal rights activist and member, management committee, National Institute of Animal Welfare, said, “Only today we have filed a petition in the HC citing the apathy of forest department against wild animals. There are no wildlife rescue centres in the city while they are not even given medical assistance in time. In case of these elephants, all of them have ailments resulting from their use in weddings and other events.”
Even at the Yamuna Pushta where the elephants are living at present, the water is not potable and they can even catch communicable diseases. Besides, the owners do not get the any veterinary help or routine check-ups.
“Every elephants require at least 1.25 acres to live freely but till the matter had come to the court, they were kept in chains in small tenements in congested areas like Sangam Vihar and Wazirabad,” she said.