Delhi’s missingelephant foundin Yamunakhadar,sentforrehab
Pachyderm first taken to Shakarpur station, then to ITO nursery; sent to centre in Haryana
NEW DELHI: Delhi’s last elephant, Lakshmi, who had been missing for more than two months, was finally traced to East Delhi’s Yamuna Khadar near Chilla village on Tuesday night. The rescue operation, which panned more than 16 hours, ended on Wednesday afternoon when the 59-year-old female elephant was brought to the ITO nursery. Officials sent her to a rehabilitation centre in Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar district late on Wednesday night.
Early Wednesday morning at the Shakarpur police station, where the elephant was kept, several locals came to sneak a peek. The station complex teemed with locals until forest and wildlife department officials reached the spot, as Lakshmi broke and ate branches in the police compound. Residents watched in amazement as her mahout bathed the pachyderm under the hot Delhi sun.
The first attempt by the teams of forest department accompanied by Wildlife SOS, an NGO, to get the elephant out of the police station and on to a truck was met with protests by the family of the mammal’s caretaker.
The elephant was then taken back to the compound, and later taken out on foot, with the mahout’s assistant riding on her in an unusual procession with six teams of police and wildlife department following the mammal as it walked to ITO nursery.
A convoy of government vehicles and policemen on motorcycles accompanied the elephant to make sure it reached the destination without further trouble. Once at the nursery, Lakshmi was fed a dozen bananas and a quintal of sugarcane.
“A medical examination of the elephant was conducted, which approved that she was fit to travel. It took us almost four hours to finally get her to climb the truck to transport it to Haryana. The truck, which has been laid with layers of mud to make her stand comfortably, has been JULY 17, 2019 loaded with sugarcane, watermelons, cucumber, bananas, green fodder and enough water for the road journey,” said a senior wildlife officer, adding “A three-member team from the forest department and five trained mahouts will travel with her to Haryana’s Ban Santour rehabilitation centre on Wednesday night, where she will be housed SEPTEMBER 9 permanently.”
DCP (east) Jasmeet Singh said, “The elephant was handed over to forest officials after the rescue and was provided protection. Her mahout Saddam has been arrested.”
Later in the day, a Delhi court handed Saddam over to the Delhi Police for custodial interrogation. Metropolitan magistrate SEPTEMBER 17 Aakanksha Vyas sent Saddam to custody after he was produced before the court and police said his interrogation was required.
Saddam was arrested under various charges including obstructing a public servant, police officials said.
“Lakshmi’s caretaker Yusuf Ali and his son Shakir are still at large and efforts are on to nab the duo,” Singh said.
A case had been registered against the trio for allegedly fleeing with the elephant from the Shakarpur police station area on July 6. A senior officer from the forest department said the elephant was, all this while, hidden in the Yamuna floodplains, which has tall grass, and is near office of the DCP (east).
A letter was sent out last month to chief wildlife wardens of all states, alerting them to be on a lookout for the elephant.
EFFORTS TO FIND LAKSHMI
A fortnight ago, wildlife officials said, they got a tip-off that the elephant was in the Yamuna floodplains and still being used commercially at weddings and Ganesh Chaturthi events. “We had deployed our informers on the ground. A few days ago, we got to know the elephant was being used at wedding functions in the outskirts of the city. We sent the informers as decoy customers and struck a deal with the caretaker. However, they somehow got wind of the plan and moved SEPTEMBER 18 the animal.”
THE CARETAKER’S FAMILY
Meanwhile, Ali’s family alleged that officials had hurt the animal while trying to get her on to a truck from the police station.
“The animal was dealt with harshly and was hurt. They cannot do this to an elephant that is protected under the Wildlife Act. We will take pursue this matter in court. We have a stay order, and they can’t take it away. Our family has raised the elephant, and is very attached to it,” Ali’s wife Shabana said.
The family had moved the Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory bail after their application was rejected by a city court. The next date of hearing is on September 23.
THE BACKGROUND Lakshmi, suffering from a zoonotic viral disease, is Delhi’s last elephant, and was supposed to be “seized” by the forest department for rehabilitation.
The move was in accordance with a 2016 high court order to take elephants (protected under the Wildlife Preservation Act) in the city away from human habitation.
She went missing just a few days before she was to be shifted to Haryana, which sent its approval to accommodate the animal on July 1. Previously, it used to live with the family at the Yamuna banks at hathi ghat.