Government told to form medical team for private elephants

Last Thursday, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) sent instructions to the chief conservator of forests (territorial), Thane, to form a wildlife veterinarian team of five to assess the health of privately-owned elephants, after ailing elephant Bijlee’s case was highlighted by the media.

Confirming this, Shakuntala-Debashish Majumdar, who runs the Thane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), told dna, “It’s not just Bijlee who needs help. I have complained about other elephants too who are made to beg.
Even they need help.”

RK Pole, chief conservator of forests (territorial), received an email from the CZA after an elephant collapsed in Thane recently. The letter requests him “to constitute a committee of experts, including veterinarians and Thane SPCA, to inspect the health and upkeep provided to all elephants in Mumbai.”

The report will have be submitted to the inspector general of forests and director of Project Elephant at the earliest. The medical team which has been put together comprises Dr Yaduraj Kadpekar, elephant veterinarian (Wildlife SOS, Mathura), Dr Prakash Khangal (veterinary medicine), Dr Rina Dev (surgery and exotic wildlife veterinarian, USA), Dr Kiran Shelar, (surgery, wildlife expert, Thane SPCA) and Dr Komal Pawar of Byculla Zoo.

In 2008, the then chief conservator of forests had ordered elephant owners to take their animals to the borders of Maharashtra, where there is less traffic and human population. But for the next two years, this order was ignored.

“After the Bijlee incident, the Thane SPCA sent complaint letters to the CZA, the principal chief conservator of forests’ office and Maneka Gandhi, and a team was formed immediately,” Majumdar said. This step is being taken to validate the worsening condition of the pachyderms and the recurrence of the same mishap, should they be allowed to roam the city, she added.

Ailing Bijlee highlights issue
Fifty eight-year-old female elephant Bijlee collapsed, for the second time in a week, near Fortis hospital in Mulund on June 13. Since then, she has been undergoing treatment for fatigue, a severe, maggot-infested injury and bruises in her hind legs.

The elephant has been working for her owner for over 50 years.

According to animal rights activists, a few years ago, Bijlee was taken away from her owner and rehabilitated to Yeoor hills in Thane, but the animal refused to eat without her master around and so was returned to him.