R.K. Srivastava, Director of Project Elephant, under the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, has directed the Chief Wildlife Warden of Tamil Nadu to submit an action taken report on the death of a wild elephant within a few days of its capture from Madhukkarai.
The order has been issued on a complaint filed by the Heritage Animal Task Force, a Thrissur-based organisation working for the welfare of elephants. The elephant, which strayed into a human habitat at Madhukkarai, was captured by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department last Sunday. Local residents said the elephant (which they named Madhukkarai Maharaj) had been creating problems in the area for the last two years. The elephant, which was shifted to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, died three days ago.
V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary of the task force, alleged that the main cause of the elephant’s death was internal and external injuries it suffered while being tranquilised. Injuries were also sustained when trained elephants deployed by the Forest Department tried to force the wild elephant into a lorry to be taken to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve. “As the lorry had no ramp, the wild elephant was literally pushed into the lorry by the trained ones,” he said.
Mr. Venkitachalam also alleged that the elephant was administered multiple tranquilising shots en route to Anamalai. The negligence of the team employed to capture the elephant caused its death, he said.
The task force alleged that the Tamil Nadu Forest officials had not obtained permission from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests under Section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 for capturing the wild elephant.
Mr. Venkitachalam urged Project Elephant to depute a Central team to take stock of the situation at Madhukkari. Moreover, local people now raised the suspicion that whether the elephant, which was caught by the forest officials, was ‘Madhukkarai Maharaj’.
