Tripura High Court-appointed high-powered committee has recommended that 23 elephants from Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura be transferred to an animal rescue centre in Gujarat run by Shri Radhe Krishna Temple, Elephant Welfare Trust. The rescue centre was described as “world class” in the committee’s 70-page report, which this newspaper obtained. It also suggested that all states consider transferring captive elephants who have been abandoned or need to be rescued from a cruel situation to this rescue centre. It also directed Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh’s Chief Wildlife Wardens to take adequate and proper steps to ensure that no young elephants are captured from the wild. The five-member panel was formed in the first week of November last year in response to a public interest litigation filed in the Tripura High Court seeking an investigation into past captive-bred elephant transfers and transportation. It also requested a halt to the transfer and transportation of these animals from the North-East to the Elephant Welfare Trust.The committee had gone to the rescue centre. It had formed a new three-member sub-committee, led by Dr M Selvan – Scientist, Elephant Cell, to visit elephant habitats in Arunachal and Tripura. The Sub-Committee discovered that all 23 elephants required care and had previously been injured. They lack food and are left to fend for themselves in the open.
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