Guwahati: A large number of concerned citizens of Assam, including people working relentlessly for conservation of nature and wildlife, on Saturday staged a protest in Guwahati to protest frequent transfer of elephants from Northeast to Jamnagar in Gujarat.
Recently, some 20 elephants were sent from their natural habitat of Arunachal Pradesh to Jamnagar-based Vanatara, a private zoo owned by industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s youngest son Anant Ambani.
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Vantara, operated by Reliance Industries, is an initiative under the Radhe Krishna Temple Welfare Trust within its Jamnagar Refinery.
Although officials and organizations involved in the transportation show valid legal documents, the sight of a caravan with police escort transporting elephants sparked massive outrage in Assam.
The protesters said most of the elephants sent to Vantara have been healthy without in dire need of “rescue and rehabilitation” as claimed by parties facilitating the transfers.
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“We take a lot of collective pride in the strides our country has made in the last 76 years in preserving our natural heritage and our heritage species. The Government of India’s noble pursuit has been reflected in the two flagship programmes–Project Tiger and Project Elephant. The objectives of Project Elephant underscore protection of the heritage species and their habitats, reduce human-animal conflict and promote the welfare of captive elephants.
“The proponents of Project Elephant by “welfare of captive elephants” certainly in no manner meant to remove these long-ranging mega faunas from their places of natural occurrence to an unnatural location where they would be held captive life-long. This is simply unethical and extremely worrying,” said Mubina Akhtar, who took part in the protest.
“According to the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024, the transfer of captive elephants won’t be permissible unless the genetic profile of the animal has been entered in the electronic monitoring application of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
“However, there has been no clarity from the Union Ministry who has been maintaining the database. We are afraid the rules have been flouted as elephant transfers between states continued even without genetic profile of the animal entered in the Ministry’s database,” she added.
The protesters sent a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu urging her immediate intervention to put a hold on such transfers from Northeast immediately.
The memorandum was signed by Moloy Baruah of Early Birds, Nitul Sibnath of Aranya Suraksha Samity, Raj Kumar Baishya from Chiriyakhana Surkasha Mancha, Apurba Ballav Goswami and Chandan Kumar Duarah of Kaziranga Wildlife Society, Niranta Gohain of Environmental Forum of Assam and Mubina Akhtar, a former member of State Board for Wildlife, Assam.
“We the undersigned, on behalf of millions of nature loving people of the northeastern states, with extreme sadness would like to bring to your notice the plight of elephants—the Heritage Animal of India—being forced to leave their natural homes and take a journey of 3000 kilometers in the name of rescue and rehabilitation,” the memorandum read.
The signatories urged immediate intervention of the President of India “to put a hold on such transfers from the northeastern states immediately (In case of elephants with critical health conditions needing long-term medical care, the forest department of the respective state may publish details, ownership certificates and valid permits in their website before sending the sick animal to any rehabilitation centre).
There have been serious allegations that sometimes elephants have been illegally captured from the wild and reclassified as a captive to send to Jamnagar. In 2022, trucks ferrying ten jumbos from Arunachal Pradesh to the Radhe Krishna Temple Welfare Trust in Jamnagar were found to be healthy sub-adults without the need for ‘rescue and rehabilitation.’
Among those had been a seven-year-old male and the Ownership Certificate (OC) for it did not mention whether it was acquired through purchase or succession or whether it was born in captivity.
“The owner’s hurried decision to send it to the Trust raised doubts that the elephant was illegally captured from the wild and reclassified as a captive and the OC had been acquired explicitly for the purpose of transportation. The reckless disregard for legal provisions of wildlife protection by all parties but mostly the gross negligence of the concerned authorities to bust the smuggling network and protection of the iconic species from illegal trade concern us all and therefore ask for a high-level inquiry into all such transfers,” it said.
According to the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024, the transfer of captive elephants won’t be permissible unless the genetic profile of the animal has been entered in the electronic monitoring application of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
“However, there has been no clarity from the Union Ministry who has been maintaining the database. We are afraid the rules have been flouted as elephant transfers between states continued even without genetic profile of the animal entered in the Ministry’s database,” the memorandum stated.
The petition stated , “There have been wide spread public resentment over the number of elephants and at the frequency they have been transferred; such transfers lead to habitat displacement and are direct violation of Wildlife Protection laws especially about Schedule 1 animals. Doubts have been raised over the role of the high-powered committee set up by the High Court of Tripura– to adjudicate all requests for transfer of wild/captive wild animals for rescue. We pray for more transparency and inclusion of civil society in the whole process for better scrutiny and to remove all doubt.”
“Almost all captive elephants in India largely come from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Between 2011 and 2021, hundreds of domestic elephants were “leased out” of Assam for “specific periods”, but the jumbos were never brought back. The concerned state governments need to publish list of elephants “leased out” from 2001 to other states and make arrangements for their return,” the petition added.
The protestors also expressed deep anguish and raised alarms on unabated felling of trees in the name of infrastructure development and the Centre’s approval on oil and gas drilling within the eco-sensitive zone of Hollangapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary.