THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Noted animal activist and Elephant Task Force member Suparna Ganguly said that there was a crying need to put a halt to illegal elephant transactions financed by unaccounted money. She said such transactions were causing hardship and torture to the elephants in captivity. ‘’As a responsible and popular Minister, I am confident that while he may differ with the ‘Gajah’ report on certain details, K B Ganesh Kumar has an appreciation of the big picture that the report has tried to address,’’ Suparna told ‘Express.’Ganesh Kumar had been a trenchant critic of the ‘Gajah’ report which has as one of its main objectives the phasing out of elephants from commercial captivity. Suparna said she found nothing wrong in the Minister owning an elephant. Ganesh Kumar, in his election affidavit, had stated that he owned an elephant. "Ownership of elephant before the Elephant Task Force’s ‘Gajah’ report comes into force has been an accepted practice,’’ Suparna said and added: ‘’I urge upon him to take strict measures to stop exploitation of the elephants for personal gains.’’Suparna, however, said it was unfortunate that the Minister had objections to certain amendments to the Wild Life Protection Act (WLPA) recommended by the Gajah report. Ganesh has specifically opposed three amendments recommended by Gajah to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. He is against amending Section 39 to include elephants in the definition of government property, including those in lawful possession of individuals and institutions. He also opposes the deletion of sub-section (2) from section 40. Section 40 (2) allows the transfer of elephants with permission of the Chief Wildlife Warden, thereby giving room for transfers in the guise of gift, donations and is discriminatory against the captive elephant as a Schedule I wild animal. Ganesh has also not taken kindly to ‘Gajah’s recommendation to substitute the term “Ownership Certificates” with “Guardianship Certificates”. Suparna said the amendments were recommended to protect the elephants against commercial exploitation. ‘’I strongly subscribe to the view that an elephant is government property and like all government assets and property, they need full protection. All loopholes in existence today need to be plugged, in order to have a sound policy of protection and conservation of all elephants - wild and captive,’’ Suparna said.
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