Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa is said to have purchased the nine-year-old tusker, Ganapati at a whopping 30 lakhs
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/BANGALORE: Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa is said to have purchased the nine-year-old tusker, Ganapati, which he gifted away to a Kerala temple on Thursday, at a whopping Rs 30 lakh from a trader in Tirunelli of Wayanad district.
The chief minister's gifting of the adolescent tusker to the Rajarajeshwara temple in Kannur district, has angered wildlife lovers in Kerala as well as Karnataka and the act is punishable with imprisonment under the country's wildlife laws.
Animal activists in Kerala said Ganapati's origins could not be traced in the absence of possession and no-objection certificates.
According to the Forest Act, the purchaser and the trader must obtain a no objection certificate from the state chief wildlife warden 30 days prior to the deal. But in Yeddyurappa's instance all rules were thrown to the wind. The warden was not even notified of the deal.
Kerala principal chief conservator of forests J K Tiwari told DNA that an official report on the transaction was awaited, only after which action can be initiated.
"We are yet to ascertain whether the pachyderm was gifted, donated or traded. An official report has been sought,'' he said.
The Rajarajeshwara temple already houses Sivasundaram, a 20-year-old tusker gifted by a Coimbatore-based businessman in 2000.
Wildlife activists want a cap on the number of elephants owned by temples at one, as a measure to avoid trade in them.
Elephant expert Professor of Ecology R Sukumar of IISc told DNA that Ganapati might have landed in Kerala from the North-East. A racket thrives in smuggling elephants from the North-East to Kerala, he pointed out. These elephants are made to walk for days on end to reach Kerala.
Prof Sukumar said temples in Tamil Nadu prefer female elephants as gifts and their newborns are even killed at birth to ensure that maximum labour can be extracted from them. But the Kerala temples want majestic tuskers which earn them more revenue, especially during festivals. The current festive season might be the reason behind the Rajarajeshwara temple being interested in organizing and accepting Yeddyurappa's gift.
Renowned Kerala veterinarian Dr Jacob Cherim said the pachyderms in Kerala temples are worse off when compared to those in other states.
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