Forest dept probes ‘sale’ of elephant under govt care

NEW DELHI: The forest and wildlife department of Delhi has issued notices and begun investigation into the ”sale” of 58-yearold female elephant, Moti,one of the six pachyderms which were moved out of Delhi in 2019, on the directions of the Delhi high court.

What has baffled the forest department about this alleged sale is that the elephant, according to the officials of the rescue centre in Haryana where the elephant is housed, is still with them and secure.

But according to a copy of the affidavit of the sale and the sale registry, received by the forest and wildlife department a couple of days ago, the animal -- bearing a micro chip issued by the chief wildlife warden of Delhi -- was sold for a sum of ₹1.10 crore on May 4, 2022, by a man named Farukh Hasan, a resident of Ghaziabad, to Farukh Ali, a resident of Wazirabad in Delhi.

Forest officials said not only is the sale of the animal illegal, as per the Wildlife Protection Act, 1984, but the elephant is also the property of Delhi government and not a private individual.

The animal is still at the Wildlife SOS elephant rescue centre in Ban Santour, Haryana, where another Delhi elephant, Laxmi, has also been housed for the past three years, officials said.

Nisheeth Saxena, chief wildlife warden of Delhi, said they too had come across the sale copy, however, no permission had been granted by the forest department for the sale, and the said the whole transaction was an offence under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act.

“Notices have been used to the buyer and the seller, based on the addresses provided in the sale affidavit and to anyone else found involved in this sale. We are probing the case and have asked for a response from all parties concerned and whether money was exchanged or not. Based on the replies, further action will be taken,” said Saxena, adding that following the Delhi high court order of 2019, all six elephants had become the property of the Delhi government, which is still paying for the upkeep of these animals.

“Even if animals could be sold legally, this is still the property of the Delhi government and the animal has been living in Haryana since 2019... A recent inspection found that the animal was doing well and therefore it is unsure if another elephant with the same name was sold,” he said, adding that this was being checked.

Wildlife SOS, the animal rescue NGO which runs the facility, said the female elephant Moti came to them in 2019 and was renamed Daisy soon after.

The other Delhi elephant, Laxmi, who came a few months after Moti was renamed Jasmine.

The Delhi high court in 2017 had formed a committee to look into the health and upkeep of Delhi’s six remaining elephants, with the committee finding the pachyderms to be in poor health and their living conditions ‘inhumane’. This resulted in the court ordering the six elephants to be shifted to other states.

While Moti was initially supposed to be shifted to Gujarat, that never happened and the court asked for the animal to remain at Ban Santour for the remainder of its life. “Let Moti spend the remainder of her life at Ban Santour, lest the petitioner comes with something better in (its) interest which would be considered by the court,” said Justice Najmi Waziri in an order issued earlier this month.

CHIEF WILDLIFE WARDEN HAS SAID THAT THE FOREST DEPT DID NOT ISSUE ANY PERMIT FOR THE SALE