Saturday, Apr 30, 2005
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Govind D. Belgaumkar
AT HOME: Veda at the Bannerghatta National Park outside Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar
BANGALORE: "Elephantine thanks to the PM"; "Veda saved from a cruel fate"; "Thank you, press." The banners said it all. Bangaloreans — schoolchildren and parents, as well as other animal-lovers — on Friday celebrated the decision of the Central Government to leave the six-year-old elephant, Veda, with its `family' in the Bannerghatta National Park here. The Centre had decided to gift Veda to Armenia to join the only male elephant in a zoo in that country. Animal-lovers here opposed it pointing at the conditions in the Armenian zoo and the vagaries of the weather in that country. According to some of them, for six months a year temperatures in Armenia stay below zero degree Celsius. People distributed sweets, touched Veda, some even prayed for its long life at the Vinayaka temple in the park. Veda has its mother, Vanita, grandmother Suvarna, brother Gokula and little sister, Gowri, in the same park. The park also has a tusker and two more elephants, who also nourish an affectionate relationship with Veda, though they are not related to her.
Celebrations
The crowd, small but aware of the story of Veda, were celebrating the occasion of the forest officials receiving a facsimile message from New Delhi on Thursday, saying that Veda would not be gifted to the Yerevan Zoo. The offices of the Deputy Conservator of Forest, BNP, K.B. Markandaiah, and that of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Shobhanath Rai, received the messages. This marks the culmination of a four-month-long fight by animal lovers led by Suparna Baksi-Ganguly, founder-trustee and vice-president of Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), a city-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), to keep Veda in the BNP.
Sustained campaign
A large number of animal-lovers had written to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and made repeated appeals to the Central Government on the issue. A sustained campaign by the United Kingdom-based NGO working for welfare animals, Born Free, also played a part in the happy culmination: it had taken up the matter with the Armenian authorities. Ms. Ganguly points out that the lone elephant, aged about 15 years, currently in the Armenian zoo is also from India. It was originally gifted to Moscow years ago. The authorities in Moscow transferred it to Armenia. "He is all alone there now. Maybe he too should be brought back to India," says Ms. Ganguly. The forest authorities are happy that the elephant herd remains intact. People visiting the park do not miss any opportunity to go near the herd. Veda, who had faced an uncertain future but has won the battle, is something of a minor celebrity today.
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