The Hindu : `Forest dept. officials misled HC'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

`Forest dept. officials misled HC'

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI JUNE 23. The controversy over the death of a wild elephant in the Edamalayar dam in April 2002 has taken a new turn with animal rights activists accusing the Forest department officials of misleading the Kerala High Court on the rescue operations leading to the death of the animal.

The activists of `Daya', a society for prevention of cruelty to animals, charged the forest officials with not initiating any proper rescue operations and medical support for the animal.

`Daya' is planning to approach the court for reopening the case as they claim to be in possession of some `new and startling' information to prove the inaction of the forest officials.

It were the documents seized by the investigation wing of the Lok Ayukta following a check at the office of the officials concerned that had exposed the `deliberate inaction' of the forest officials in saving the animal and misleading the judiciary, said P. B. Rameshkumar, secretary of `Daya'.

According to him, the forest officials, instead of using the service of an expert veterinary surgeon for assessing the health of the trapped animal, summoned a veterinary pharmacologist. He advised the authorities that it was good for the animal to stay in the water when the animal right activists argued that it should be pulled out of the dam for saving its life.

The forest officials informed the court that the right hind limb of the animal was disabled when it actually suffered fractures in the vertebrae. The pharmacologist also advised that the animal was fast recovering from the injuries and needed only supportive medicine. He further advised that taking the animal out of the water might result in loss of buoyancy support, which was very much needed. However, the animal died within a few days, Mr. Rameshkumar said.

Though the forest officials claimed that an amount of Rs. 55,000 was spent for protecting the elephant, only Rs. 2377 was spent for medicine and the remaining was used for purchasing fuel for boats and appointing guards for the elephants, he said.

Even though the animal had reportedly died on April 5 and post mortem was held on April 6 and 7, it took nearly 6 months for the authorities to prepare a post mortem report.

By the report, the first and second sacral vertebrae of the animal were broken at several parts and no abnormality was visible in the abdomen.

The findings of the post mortem disproved the arguments of the forest officials, Mr. Rameshkumar said.

In the light of these new facts, the organisation is planning to approach the authorities including the Animal Welfare Board and the court seeking action against the officials for misleading the court and preventing the rescue of the animal, he said.

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