Forest dept to monitor Madhuri’s health every fortnight

Dhairyasheel Patil, Kolhapur deputy conservator of forests, said the assistant conservator of forests would visit the math every two weeks and submit a report on Madhuri’s health

The Maharashtra forest department will monitor elephant Madhuri’s health at Nandani Math in Kolhapur every fortnight and facilitate her socialisation with other captive female elephants, even as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has approached the Supreme Court seeking her rehabilitation at Vantara in Jamnagar.

PETA has alleged that Madhuri was brought back amid fireworks, loud music, vehicle horns and crowds. It said she arrived shackled and hobbled and is now tethered alone in the same shed from which she was rescued. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

Dhairyasheel Patil, Kolhapur deputy conservator of forests, said the assistant conservator of forests would visit the math every two weeks and submit a report on Madhuri’s health. “I am yet to receive the report,” Patil said.

“Last week, we met representatives of four maths, three from Kolhapur and one from Sangli. Each of these maths has a female elephant in captivity. It was decided that the elephants will be brought together once every two months so that they can socialise with each other,” Patil said. The initiative will begin next month.

Meanwhile, PETA has moved the apex court seeking restoration of Madhuri’s rehabilitation at the Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust at Vantara, from where she was returned to Nandani Math on September 11-12 following a high-powered committee (HPC) decision on September 9.

The organisation has cited an HPC sub-committee report that raised concerns over exercise and socialisation, human interference, access to water, water contamination and specialised veterinary care. The math authorities reportedly told the committee the facility was “purely for religious purposes” and rehabilitation needs were not being provided there.

PETA also cited Madhuri’s chronic foot problems, laminitis, osteoarthritis, osteolysis and stress fractures, and said she had formed a strong social bond with another rescued elephant, Shanti, at Vantara.