Six elephants missing, Delhi government issues notices to the owners

Delhi government is set to cancel the ownership license of mahouts under the Wildlife Protection Act after six pachyderms went missing in the last few weeks. Chief Conservator of Forests & Chief Wildlife Warden, Anil Kumar Shukla said that during a recent inspection, six elephants were found missing following which a committee headed byDr Suneesh Buxy, Conservator of Forests was constituted to conduct an enquiry into the matter.

"Our officials went on inspections and found six elephants missing. According to official data with the Wildlife Department, there are 14 elephants housed in Sangam Vihar in South Delhi. The owners of six elephants were not able to explain and give a satisfactory reply as to what happened to the elephants," Shukla said. "The procedure of cancelling their licenses under the Wildlife Protection Act has already been done. After the license gets cancelled, action will be initiated against the owners," Shukla said.

According to Shukla, the department had received some complaints of animals being ill-treated and going missing following which they carried out an inspection and found the pachyderms missing.