New Delhi: The camp elephant of Dehradun's Rajaji National Park, Arundhati, who had suffered multiple fractures on her right foot after falling into a marsh early this month, succumbed to her injuries before park authorities could put her to sleep.
The 80-year-old elephant, who had been suffering for the past 15 days, was granted permission to be put to sleep as doctors had declared that she was fighting a losing battle.
Sources told CNN-IBN that Arundhati’s mercy killing was delayed because of bureaucratic red-tapism. It is believed that Forest Department authorities were buying time and papers were not ready to put the animal out of her misery.
Animal rights activists had put stiff resistance against the demand for a mercy death alleging that park authorities did not treat her properly. An animal rights group had also appealed against a lethal injection, arguing that the decision should be delayed.
They had also organised a candlelight march to protest against the red-tapism involved in speeding up the animal’s mercy killing.
Animal rights activist and BJP MP Maneka Gandhi had said that Arundhati should have been put to death weeks ago and “her painful death is completely unwarranted.”
"They had given her antibiotics when she should have been given sodium which I had recommended but they left her for 20 days with gangrene in her feet. Then they claimed they don't have Rs 200 to get sodium at a time when they are busy celebrating animal week. There are no doctors for elephants in the whole of India," Gandhi had said.
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