Uncertain future for captive tusker

Bhopal: No other wild animal in the world has perhaps suffered as much as Sonu, a 15-year-old wild elephant captured in the famous Achanakmar Tiger Reserve (ATR) in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district two-and-half years ago, did.

Chained till it suffered grievous wounds, “damned” as “rogue” after being “framed” in the killing of five people and caught in a legal quagmire, the tusker is currently staring at the prospect of being deprived of its natural habitat in the wild, forever, to spend the rest of its life in “captivity”.

The Bilaspur high court is set to decide shortly if the pachyderm should be set free, with the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) submitting a report assessing if it still has retained its survival instinct in the wild, a couple of days ago.

“We fear the wild elephant may be too domesticated to go back to the wild after being nourished in captivity for such a long period,” a senior forest officer of the Chhattis-garh government told this newspaper on Saturday.

When contacted, additional principal chief conservator of forest (APCCF) (wildlife), Chhattisgarh, S.K.Singh, said, “All I can say is that the elephant has now completely recovered and is in good health.”

“Some ATR staff have made mess of the whole thing and in the process, the life of Sonu too,” Chhattisgarh-based animal rights activist Nitin Singhvi, who has been waging a legal battle for the past two-and-half years to restore the hapless tusker to the wild, told this newspaper on Saturday.

Sonu’s ordeal began after it was captured by forest officials in ATR on December 1, 2015, in the wake of reports that it caused loss of human lives and properties in the region.

It was chained for “around two months”, leading to grievous injuries in its three legs.

The plight of the pachyderm has moved the animal rights activist, who approached the Bilaspur high court seeking its proper medical treatment and then its restoration to the wild.

The PCCF (wildlife) of Chhattisgarh as well as the AWBI had later suggested release of the tusker to the wild after its recovery from sickness.

But, some of the ATR officers have raised certain “misgivings” about the release of the elephant in the wild, apparently fearing that the tusker may cause harms to people living in the area of its habitation.

While ordering to set up a rehabilitation centre in ATR for the elephant, the Bilaspur high court, in a judgment in the case, had earlier observed, “Who will take responsibility if this elephant is released in the wild and kills another human being.” “We are dealing with an animal which has killed five people in five separate attacks,” the court added.

Following the court’s directive, a rehabilitation camp has been set up in ATR at a cost of '8 crore for Sonu’s rehabilitation.

Incidentally, a 3-year-old female elephant, Poornima, used for honeytrapping the “rogue” elephant to capture it was allegedly killed in attack by the latter on November 30, 2015. “I have documents to show that Sonu has not killed any person,” Mr Singhvi claimed.

In a separate order dated July 3 this year, the court later directed AWBI to examine if Sonu can survive in the wild now and submit its report to the court within three weeks so that it could take a decision whether the pachyderm should be released in the wild or not.