Maharashtra: Elephant Laxmi dies at Dahisar, activists demand detailed enquiry

A female Elephant, which was privately owned died on Thursday morning at Dahisar, while owners claimed that it had died a natural death, activists who have been regularly filing complaints against its owners for mistreating two pachyderms, have demanded a detailed enquiry into its death.

According to forest department the owners in the morning itself informed the forest department officials about the death of the Elephant Laxmi and its body was now under the custody of the forest department.

Another elephant owned by the owner Sabhashankar Pandey had died in October 2016 at Film City in Goregaon after it was allegedly brought for shooting still photographs. Animal welfare activists regularly had been filing complaints against Pandey for ill-treating elephants and using it for events as well as commercial purposes. 

“Since the Elephant is a Schedule I species its mandatory for Forest department to carry out postmortem and investigate the death. Our team reached Dahisar in the morning itself and by around 2.30pm Laxmi was loaded on a truck with help of crane and left for Kora Kendra at Vasai but the truck was stuck for hours in traffic and hence a decision was taken to carry out the postmortem on Friday morning,” informed Range Forest Officer (RFO) Santosh Kank adding that it will be done by Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) Veterinary Officer, Dr Shailesh Pethe.   

Activists also alleged that in February 2104, Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) had sent notices to Pandey after complaints were made against him for using two Elephants for begging at Dahisar.

“It was the last privately owned Elephant in Mumbai and Forest department should now ensure that no elephant is allowed to be brought inside the city limits of not only Mumbai but also Thane as well as Navi Mumbai as per their own rules. Its sad that both the Elephants suffered years of negligence and despite so many complaints the forest department did not seize these two pachyderms,” said Honorary Wildlife Warden (Mumbai city) Sunish Kunju who also heads PAWS and NGO that regularly filed complaints to rescue these elephants.

Kank informed that they have carried out panchanama on the spot and further course of action will be taken after the post mortem report is submitted. “We have even collected the medicines that the owner claimed they were giving to Laxmi as evidence and the death will be investigated,” he said.