Arrest forest officials and veterinary doctors for killing wild elephant at Madukarai

Arrest forest officials and veterinary doctors for killing wild elephant at Madukarai

Started
22 June 2016
Petition to
Director, Project Elephant, MoEF, Govt. of India, New Delhi and 3 others
Petition Closed
This petition had 6,035 supporters

Why this petition matters

Started by Venkitachalam V K

Enclosed herewith is the news items published by New Indian Express Coimbatore regarding the sudden death of the wild elephant captured by the Tamilnadu Forest Department from Madhukarai town area 3 days ago. This type of sudden death is caused by gross negligence committed by the members of the squad which was constituted by the tamilnadu forest department to capture the wild elephant and to transfer it to Annamalai Tiger Reserve. This type of killing of wild elephant at Annamalai Tiger Reserve is a classic case of hunting by forest officials. The Tamilnadu Forest Department had not obtained any permission (which is mandatory for capturing any wild animal from forest areas) from the union ministry of Environment and Forest to capture this elephant from Madhukarai Forest area. Therefore, I expect that your authoritative Office will order for a high level enquiry into this kind of killing of wild animals by forest officials and to arrest them for the violation of provisions of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 as early as possible.

In India, veterinary personnel use various medicines to tranquilize wild animals including elephants without obtaining any statutory permission from Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India which is the apex body in India to formulate force for protecting wild animals. By using loop-holes in the procedures approved by Indian Veterinary Council for using medicines on animals, many veterinarians use tranquilizing guns and tranquilizing medicines to immobilize wild animals as done at Madukkarai.

Across India, wildlife veterinarians use Immobilion combo pack, a large animal immobilizing drug, to capture rogue elephants. Immobilion is imported. The Nandakanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar is the lone authorized supplier in India, since it alone has the trade license. An extremely potent narcotic drug, its mishandling could risk the life of the handler as well as the animal. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of each state places the request when the need arises. In case of emergencies, wildlife veterinarians use another anesthetic, Xylazine, which is less potent. Usually, 1ml of Immobilion per tonne of mass weight is administered. The animal will go down within 10-30 minutes and another drug which comes with the combo pack is used to wake up the animal. Xylazine does not make the animal collapse to the ground. Elephants remain standing. Doctors administer close 8ml depending on the size and behavior of the animal. Looks like the team that tranquilized the elephant three days ago gave it Xylazine shots. Experts suspect other reasons besides over dosage of sedative. Overnight operation causes tremendous stress possibly resulting in sudden cardiac arrest and lung collapse. The wild elephant did not wake up since it reached the Krall on Sunday evening. So far the forest department officials have tried to cover up the incident. All officials involved in the capturing and tranquilizing operation must be questioned.

Petition Closed

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Decision Makers

  • Director, Project Elephant, MoEF, Govt. of India, New Delhi
  • Secretary, AWBI, Chennai
  • Chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala, Tamilnadu
  • Asst. Director, Wild Life Crime Control Bureau, New Delhi