ITANAGAR, 24 Jan: The state’s principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) on Friday said that 20 captive elephants have been shipped to Radhe Krishna Temple Welfare Trust under Vantara, a rescue centre for captive elephants and other wild animals managed by the Reliance Group, in Gujarat with the approval of the high-powered committee constituted by the Tripura High Court and entrusted by the Supreme Court of India, with the full consent of the current owners of the animals.
The elephants include 10 males, 8 females, 1 sub-adult, and 1 calf.
The clarification has been issued following uproar in social and print media over transportation of elephants from Namsai district to Gujarat.
On 20 January, this daily also published a report that at least 33 elephants were being transported from Arunachal to a private zoo in Gujarat.
While issuing the clarification, the PCCF in a release said that elephants were an integral part of timber operations/logging until the Supreme Court imposed ban on green felling in 1996.
“The elephants were used to drag heavyweight timber logs from inaccessible locations in the terrains forests areas and for loading the logs into the trucks for the purpose of transportation. After imposing the ban on green felling, the elephants in captive were mostly used for local use like fetching of firewood or dragging heavy items from inaccessible areas. Presently, the use of captive elephants further reduced with the availability of vehicles and creation of good road networks across the state of Arunachal Pradesh,” the release said.
The PCCF said that an elephant is a high-maintenance animal. “An adult elephant requires an average daily feed of about 120 kgs – 160 kgs mix of rice, gram, pulse, jaggery and other green fodder. Besides this, captive elephants often suffer from severe health issues, including injuries, arthritis, and psychological trauma due to harsh labour, training, and prolonged chaining. The owners who are in possession of captive elephant are finding it difficult to maintain and upkeep the elephants,” it said.
The PCCF said that presently there are more than 160 captive elephants in Arunachal Pradesh, and that most of them are in Namsai forest division.
“Due to inability and non-sustainability of maintenance of these elephants, the respective owners of the elephants had approached the Radhe Krishna Temple Welfare Trust under Vantara,” the release said.
It said that the temple trust has secured all the required documentation under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, including a no objection certificate from the Gujarat forest department, and a transport permission from the chief wildlife warden of the Arunachal forest department, as per the Captive Elephants (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024 was also obtained before the transportation.
The elephants, most of which are stated to be sick and old-aged, were transported in specially-designed elephant ambulances. Besides health check-ups, DNA profiling has also been done by members of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, before initiating the transportation.
“It is informed that the Radhe Krishna Temple Welfare Trust in Vantara in addition to providing lifelong care for the elephants has offered new livelihood opportunities for the owners, mahouts, and their families at the rescue centre. The mahouts and others involved in elephant management have undergone intensive training in humane and scientifically backed methods of elephant management, ensuring a future of compassionate care for the elephants and empowering their caregivers with the knowledge and skills to support this approach,” the release said.
A dedicated team of over 200 experts, including elephant veterinarians, para-veterinarians, senior caretakers, and ambulance drivers from Vantara have ensured the safe and compliant transportation of the animals, strictly adhering to the transportation guidelines and animal welfare standards, the release said, adding that all the 20 elephants have safely reached the rescue centre.
