New Delhi | Updated: January 29, 2019 07:08 AM IST
3 min read
Whatsapp
twitter
Facebook
Reddit
1,687 elephants are in private possession: Govt to SC. (File)
Kerala and Assam account for over half the 2,454 elephants in captivity across the country; of these, one-third are in private custody without any ownership certificate mandated by law; zoos, circuses and temples account for 207 elephants in captivity.
This is according to the first survey of elephants in captivity, that is part of an affidavit the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has submitted to the Supreme Court. The affidavit comes in the wake of rising elephant deaths and human-elephant conflicts, particularly in Kerala and Assam.
The Court had directed the MoEF to identify elephants in captivity and whether their owners have an ownership certificate, while hearing a writ petition filed by Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre. The bench of Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer has now directed the Chief Wildlife Wardens of states to “ascertain the age of all the captive elephants” and will hear the matter on February 12.
Story continues below this ad
According to the affidavit, there are 2,454 elephants in captivity, of which 560 are in possession with forest departments and 1,687 with private individuals. However, 664 of the total captive elephants in the country are without ownership certificate while there are 85 in zoos, 26 in circuses and 96 in temples.
The MoEF told the apex court that 58 per cent of all captive elephants is concentrated in two states: 905 in Assam and 518 in Kerala.
The affidavit also points out discrepancies in the data of captive elephants submitted by Bihar which states that it has 66. But the MoEF affidavit states that as on December 21, 2018, there are “59 elephants in custody of private person as against 73 in 2016 compilation”.
“Out of the 59 privately owned captive elephants, 50 elephants verified in these survey are from the previously compiled list of 75 elephants and 9 elephants are different from previous record. Status of 19 elephants are not known and 4 elephants have reportedly died,” said the MoEF.
Story continues below this ad
“…Bihar further stated that in a number of cases the verification or collection of relevant information has not been completed due to absence of owner/custodian or other reasons.”
In November, the Court had pulled up the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) for not having data on the number of elephants held captive. “Your (AWBI) submission is that if something is happening in front of your eyes, you will say that I will not take any action as it is for the states to see. You do not even have the data on elephants,” the SC had said.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
3 min read
1,687 elephants are in private possession: Govt to SC. (File)
