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Centre asks states to comply with rules to check illegal elephant transfer
The Union government notified the Captive Elephant (Transfer and Transport) Rules in March to address concerns and regulate the movement of captive elephants
The Union environment ministry has cited representations and complaints regarding the illegal transfer, sale, and procurement of elephants and asked states to take all necessary action to comply with rules, particularly regarding the genetic profile of transported ones.
In an August 20 office memorandum to chief wildlife wardens and principal chief forest conservators, the ministry said the Union government notified the Captive Elephant (Transfer and Transport) Rules to address concerns and regulate the movement of captive elephants within and between states. It referred to sub-clause 3 which says no transfer of an elephant shall be permissible unless its genetic profile has been entered into the ministry’s electronic monitoring application. The memorandum requested state officials to take all necessary action to comply with these rules.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh separately on Thursday wrote to Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav seeking clarity on how the genetic profile of each elephant will be used for conservation. “The condition itself raises four issues on which there is no clarity in the public domain: How exactly is MoEFCC [Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change] establishing the genetic profile of each elephant?” He asked who was generating this data and maintaining the database. “How exactly does the MoEFCC intend to use this genetic data for the protection of captive and wild elephants? I presume that we have a laboratory infrastructure with necessary sequencing facilities.”
HT on March 16 reported the notified rules lay down the procedure for the transfer of captive elephants within a state or between two states. The notification authorised the chief wildlife wardens to permit or reject the transfer of captive elephants. It said the chief wildlife wardens shall permit the transfer where the ownership certificate in respect of the elephant proposed for transfer existed before coming into force of the new rules except in the case of a calf borne from such captive elephants.
The notification said the transfer of an elephant may also be permitted in case the owner is no longer able to maintain it. The transfer of captive elephants would not be allowed unless the genetic profile was entered into the electronic monitoring application.
Animal welfare organisations wrote to the ministry on April 1 criticising the rules notified on March 14. They asked the ministry to publish a finite list of elephants eligible for transfer with valid permits.
Activists and environmentalists alleged that medically fit elephants from parts of the northeast, especially Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, were illegally transported to other parts of the country, especially to certain private collectors. They added the Union government notified the Captive Elephant (Transfer and Transport) Rules to address these concerns and regulate the movement of captive elephants.
