Karnataka - Mysore   

Relocation of elephants from zoos evokes strong response

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Moving out: These elephants will soon be shifted out of Mysore zoo in accordance with the Central Zoo Authority’s decision.

MYSORE: The Central Zoo Authority’s (CZA) recent order banning elephants from zoos has evoked strong reactions from conservationists and officials.

While a section of conservationists have welcomed the move as a step in the right direction, officials from the Forest Department, including those from the Mysore zoo have described the order as impractical.

A senior official of the Mysore zoo said on condition of anonymity that all elephants in the zoo are mahout-specific and listen to his command alone. Hence, shifting elephants to either a sanctuary or a rehabilitation centre would be stressful for them.

“What is the point in shifting the elephants from the zoo enclosures to a rehabilitation centre where the level of expertise available in the zoo will not be available for the care of the elephants?” the official asked.

If a few zoos are badly maintained, then such institutions should be pulled up or shut down. In Mysore zoo, there is adequate space for courtship. There are also pools for wading in the water,” said some animal keepers. Shifting all elephants to a new refugee centre would amount to duplicating resources and creating new facilities which already exist in the zoo, the officials said.

“Why should only elephants be shifted? Why not tigers that hate to be caged, or the birds which love to be free?” asked another official.

Praveen Bhargav of Wildlife First said that the CZA’s decision to relocate zoo/circus elephants to national parks, sanctuaries and tiger reserves is another good example of solving one problem to create a bigger one.

He said, “Domesticated elephants invariably suffer from diseases which, despite screening, may get passed on to wild elephants and other endangered species. Already, existing elephant camps inside such reserves were causing a negative impact, including degradation of surrounding forests owing to extensive lopping of forests by mahouts. Such camps also act as magnets for people to settle down thus creating large human settlements even within core/critical habitat.

He added that unlike in the past, there is a complete ban on timber operations in wildlife reserves and therefore there was no requirement for working elephants.

Further, when the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has already issued guidelines to relocate human settlements and even phase out tourism from core/critical tiger habitat, this decision of the CZA can undo the efforts of NTCA.

Mr. Bhargav said the decision requires to be urgently reviewed in order to ensure that while animal welfare aspects of a hundred odd domesticated elephants are indeed addressed, the long-term conservation interests of thousands of wild elephants, tigers and other endangered species, which are precariously surviving in wildlife reserves, are not jeopardised.

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