Cataloguing Of Captive Elephants In State Completed: Forest Dept. Informs Madras High Court

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that the Forest Department has prepared a catalogue of captive elephants in the State.

On the last date of hearing, the Court had ordered that a catalogue of all captive elephants in the State must be made containing video-recordings of all such elephants, together with complete profile of each elephant, including the age, sex, lineage, if possible. The department had also been directed to make every effort to indicate how the elephants came to be captured or domesticated. 

A Bench Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu was adjudicating upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by activist Rangarajan Narasimhan over the alleged inhumane treatment of captive elephants kept in temples across the State. 

Government counsel C. Harsha Raj apprised the Bench on Thursday that the catalogue was ready and that it would be presented to the Court in a pen drive. Accordingly, the Bench recorded in its order, 

"It is submitted on behalf of the official respondent that a catalogue of all the captive elephants has been prepared and the same would be presented by way of a pen-drive. A pen-drive containing the similar material should be forwarded to the petitioner."

The direction to catalogue captive elephants was issued after Elsa Foundation, an intervenor in the matter had pointed out to the Court the State forest department in its report submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in January 2019 had claimed that 86 elephants were in the custody of temples and private individuals. However, now it had been reported that only 63 elephants were in the custody of temples and private individuals. Thus, going by the figures on record, 23 elephants were reportedly missing, it was submitted.

The matter is slated to be heard next on November 11. 

Case Title: Rangarajan Narasimhan v. The Chief Secretary and Ors

Click Here To Read/Download Order