The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Chained for no fault of his

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Chained for no fault of his

Swathi. V

With no trained mahout, zoo keeps ‘rogue’ elephant fettered for long

Nehru Zoo has only animal keepers who are not adept
Six elephants have only five keepers working in 2 shifts

— PHOTO: V. SWATHI

Unending ordeal: Vijay, a tusker, remains shackled at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad for over eight months.

HYDERABAD: Nehru Zoological Park, which was once a haven for wildlife, now seems to have crossed all the boundaries of cruelty to animals. One example can be found in the appalling conditions that Vijay, the sole male tusker of the zoo is kept in.

The elephant has been kept fettered for so long that he bears festering wounds on his hind legs. Sources informed that the chains, weighing about 50 kg, will be removed only if the legs are found to be swollen. For over eight months now, Vijay has been given neither a bath nor a stroll in the zoo, both of which are paramount for the well being of elephants. Animal keepers at the zoo never approach the animal, but from a distance. Chains are occasionally removed only after tranquilising the animal.

Captured from the wild and later brought here from Sri Venkateshwara Zoological Park at Tirupati, Vijay is known for his agitated behaviour right from the beginning. However, sources attribute his irritable nature to the lack of trained mahout.

“The zoo has only chavdis (animal keepers) who are not adept at handling elephants. For six elephants in the zoo, there are only five keepers — three in the day and two in the night.

Last year, a sick elephant named Anarkali died of maggots as it had been lying on one side for over 20 days. There was nobody to take care of her,” Mahesh Agarwal, the secretary of Sahyog Organisation and member of Asian Captive Elephant Research Foundation informed. He attributes the temperament of Vijay to the unfavourable conditions for mating. “ A distance of 20 to 30 km is mandatory for the male elephant to pursue its sweetheart. Mating cannot take place unless inside a water body,” Mr. Agarwal says.

The zoo lacks such conditions and hence the aggressive behaviour of the elephant. However, sources say that temperament is just a pretext to shroud the ill-treatment. A trained mahout, with over 32 commands, will know how to handle the animals effectively. With a moratorium on the recruitments, there is no hope of release for the pachyderm in near future. “If the zoo cannot provide for them, they can at least be left in the wild,” suggests Mr. Agarwal.

Zoo authorities, however, said that the “rogue elephant” had been in chains only for the past four months of mating period.

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