INDIA: Forest Department Opens Case Against Elephant Owner

The officials from Thane forest division have registered a case against the owner of the female elephant named Rangmala and given him 90 days to get the documents related to the pachyderm, failing which he would lose her custody.

The forest department initiated an inquiry against the owner of a 30-year-old Rangmala for allegedly violating guidelines that ban the entry of pachyderms into municipal limits of Thane, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

"After carrying out an inquiry from December 2 to December 6, we registered a First Offence Report (FOR) against the owner, who is a resident of Solapur. Although the animal's documents did match Rangmala's, he did not have documents of its ownership as, according to him, it was given to his temple in Solapur by the original owner from Assam," said range forest officer (RFO) IS Kambli.

The elephant was allowed to be taken to Solapur on Sunday. The forest department decided to allow the owner to keep it, but they made the owner sign a bond of Rs25,000 as surety. "If he tries to break the bond by not reporting himself or the elephant as demanded by the forest department, he can face imprisonment up to three years," added Kambli.

President of Thane SPCA Shakuntala Majumdar, who was coordinating with the forest department, said: "Elephants are regularly being reported from Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan and other belts where they are prohibited and are used for begging. Hence, forest department needs to take strict action to ensure that the rules are not violated," she said.