Guwahati: A Goa-based animal right activist and lawyer, Alok Hisarwala Gupta, has shot a letter to both Centre and Assam government opposing a proposal of transferring two young female elephants to a temple in Tamil Nadu from Tinsukia in the state.
The letter mentioned that the Executive Officer of the Annamalaiyar temple located at Arunachala hill in the town of Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu has submitted an application to the Ministry of Environment and Forest and the Assam Forest Department, seeking permission to transfer and donate two young female elephants from Tinsukia, to the temple.
It added that officials of Annamalaiyar temple have visited Assam recently and selected the two young, female juveniles for the purpose.
The lawyer added that the entire exercise was in direct breach of the prohibition of sale and transfer of elephants under section 43 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. He also attached several video clips in which the elephant calves were allegedly being tortured while teaching certain gestures related to religious activities.
He said that if this transfer were still carried out overlooking the consequences, it would not only be illegal under law, but also in contempt of both the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Madras.
Gupta suggested that instead of bringing any further elephants from the wilds of Assam to the temples in Tamil Nadu, the elephants which were kept held in temples of Tami Nadu should return to elephant rehabilitation centres, preferably in Assam, their natural habitat.
