Elephant Smuggling Archive-India: Probe ordered into jumbo cruelty

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

I am forwarding this archive article which provides a link to the

previous message I had sent with the caption: 'Elephant Smuggling-

India: Elephant detained at checkpost'.

I had written to even the Prime Minister of India that Elephant

Smuggling cases have increased and should be probed by the CBI, but

nothing has happened.

The elephants are taken to Bihar from Assam to be exibited at the

Sonepur Fair (an illegal animal show believed to be the biggest in

Asia). The Indian Government has not been able to prevent the sale of

endangered or Schedule I species which is openly traded. The buyers

are mainly Mumbai Film Industry (Bollywood), the Circus owners,

temples of South India etc. If the animal unlucky to be brought by

anyone of the above buyers, it is smuggled out of India via Nepal.

 

Azam Siddiqui

 

The Telegraph, Guwahati, Saturday, November 27, 2004

Link:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041127/asp/guwahati/story_4054796.asp

 

Probe ordered into jumbo cruelty

OUR BUREAU

Nov. 26: Dispur today ordered a probe into allegations that four

elephants, seized at the Guwahati railway station yesterday, were

being cruelly treated. They were being taken to Bihar and Uttar

Pradesh.

 

The state government has also asked the forest department to look

into allegations that the city was becoming a major transit point for

smuggling of wildlife from the region, sources said.

 

Forest minister Pradyut Bordoloi said, " Though all the papers for the

transportation of the animals were found to be in order, we are

looking into the cruelty aspect. "

 

Animal rights activists, conducting a parallel inquiry, claimed that

one of the jumbos did not have its " microchip " , which is mandatory

for all domesticated elephants in the state. Such a " microchip " ,

implanted under the skin on the animal's back, contains all

information about it. Introduction of the chip was aimed at curbing

their illegal sale and transportation.

 

After the Supreme Court's ban on felling of trees in the Northeast, a

large herd of elephants has become " jobless " . Their owners are

allegedly selling off their animals to save themselves the high costs

of maintaining the jumbos.

 

Azam Siddique, a member of People for Animals, an NGO, and an

elephant " master trainer " , alleged that the four animals were being

taken out of the city " either to be sold at the animal fair at

Sonepur or to be smuggled out to Nepal " .

 

" This region has always been used by wildlife smugglers. They

disguise themselves and take away these animals from here. They later

produce death certificates for these animals. It is a racket which

involves a large gang of smugglers who are part of a long chain, "

Siddique has said in a letter to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)

when he sought a CBI probe into the scandal.

 

According to wildlife experts, animals smuggled out of the city

include exotic birds and small mammals, such as slow lorises. The

animals usually end up in private collections in West Asia and Europe.

 

Forest department officials admitted that the city was becoming " a

hub " of activity for wildlife smugglers. But they added that they

were handicapped by the absence of an effective monitoring mechanism

of their own to check such illegal traffic.

 

" The Centre decided to form the Wildlife Crime Bureau to check

smuggling of animals only recently. This new agency would be able to

crack down on smuggling and other illegal activities more

efficiently, " a forest official said.

 

Siddique, too, said there has been " no investigation by the

authorities " into charges that Guwahati is being used as a transit

point by wildlife smugglers.

 

The wildlife expert pointed out that the condition inside the wagon

was not hygienic at all. " The dung has not been cleared for days and

the elephants were being fed at a spot that was full of their

droppings. There was no space for the animals to move properly as all

four legs of the animals were chained. The walls of the wagon were

not padded, which caused the jumbos to rub themselves sore on the

rough areas. The roof was lower than the animal's height, which

forced them to bend down all throughout the journey. They had to keep

standing round-the-clock. "

 

Officials of the veterinary department today inspected the four

elephants after they were taken into " custody " by forest department

officials of the Kamrup (east) division. " We'll be able to submit the

doctors' report to the government by tomorrow, " range officer Kailash

Das said.