India News | Plea in HC to Rehabilitate African Elephant Kept in Delhi Zoo
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Delhi High Court Wednesday made it clear that an African male elephant gifted to India by the Zimbabwean government in 1998 will not be sent back and its proper care will be taken here while asking the Central Zoo Authority to explore the possibility of importing a female South African elephant.
New Delhi, Jul 6 (PTI)The Delhi High Court Wednesday made it clear that an African male elephant gifted to India by the Zimbabwean government in 1998 will not be sent back and its proper care will be taken here while asking the Central Zoo Authority to explore the possibility of importing a female South African elephant.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and Animals Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to jointly conduct and inspect in respect of the elephant kept in Delhi Zoo and submit a detailed report regarding the animal and the area where it is kept.
The high court was hearing a plea seeking the release and rehabilitation of the African elephant 'Shankar' who was gifted to India by the Zimbabwean government and kept chained at the National Zoological Park here.
The bench said it is making it clear that it will not allow sending back the elephant.
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"We will not permit it. We will keep it in India and take care of him here only. He is ours. We will look after him properly, don't worry,” the Chief Justice said.
The court asked the CZA and AWBI to mention in the affidavit the possibility of relocation of the elephant to some sanctuary or national park.
The court, which listed the matter for further hearing on August 31, was informed by the counsel for CZA that the elephant has been in India for the last 24 years as he was brought here in 1998.
“Counsel for respondent CZA will explore the possibility of importing another female South African elephant of the same age,” the bench said.
The high court had earlier issued notices and sought responses of the Centre, Delhi government, National Zoological Park, CZA, and AWBI on the petition and had directed the authorities to consider a representation preferred by the petitioner in this regard in November last year.
The plea filed by 16-year-old Nikita Dhawan, founder of Youth For Animals (YFA), said the lone African elephant named 'Shankar' is a victim of cruelty and viciousness at the hands of caretakers at the zoo, and his present condition is nothing less than illegal imprisonment.
Dhawan said it will be a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution if the animal is not rehabilitated in a sanctuary as his mental and physical health is deteriorating day by day.
The plea cited a 2009 circular issued by the CZA which had banned exhibition of elephants in zoos, as well as CZA guidelines prohibiting an elephant to be held in solitary for over six months.
The petitioner, represented through senior advocate Raj Panjwani, has urged the high court to direct the authorities to rehabilitate Shankar in a suitable wildlife sanctuary that houses other African elephants, and to ask the CZA to submit a rehabilitation and translocation plan for all captive elephants held in zoos across India to implement 2009 circular.
The plea said the Zimbabwean government had gifted an African elephant couple, Shankar and Bombai, to India in 1998. However, due to an unyielding environment, Bombai passed away in 2005, and since then, Shankar is held captive alone at the zoo here.
It said an RTI response showed a horrid state of living conditions in which the elephant was kept, and if the same continues, he will also meet the same fate as the female elephant.
"He is perpetually chained on both legs for 17 hours a day and does not get adequate space to move around," the petitioner alleged.
"It is also pertinent to highlight that within 100 metres distance from Shankar's enclosure, there are multiple railway tracks, due to which there is constant noise and disturbance to the elephant. These disturbances are also one of the reasons for psychological trauma to Shankar, as elephants are extremely sensitive to sounds.
"There are various reports and pictures/videos of Shankar which glean out the brutality/inhumaneness sustained by Shankar within his confines. Shankar is shackled in chains in an enclosure which unforgivingly falls short of the prerequisites of the behemoth elephant coupled with his merciless handling. The cruelty exhibited towards Shankar departs beyond physical in nature and forays into psychological abuse as well," the plea said.
It added Shankar's solitary confinement and living conditions have engendered deep neurological and mental damage to the animal.
His psychologically distressed circumstances have steered him into aggressive behaviour with not only visitors and other animals but also his caretaker, it said, while seeking his release and rehabilitation. PTI SKV
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)