Elephant Roopa to stay, get friend

AHMEDABAD: Roopa, the only elephant in Kankaria zoo, may get to stay in the city after all. The elephant committee, currently visiting zoos all over the country to check the living conditions of elephants, is learnt to have acknowledged that Roopa is living in a good, maintained environment and that there does not seem to be any urgent need to shift her out of the city.

The elephant committee was in the city recently and reviewed the conditions in which Roopa lives in the zoo. “The committee members expressed satisfaction over the conditions in which Roopa is living,” sources said. Interestingly, members of the elephant committee learnt to have told zoo officials that they will recommend that a female elephant be transferred to stay with Roopa from another zoo where the conditions are not very suitable.

“There are certain zoos where the elephants are not being kept in good conditions. After the all-India review is over, we may recommend some female elephant to be transferred to Ahmedabad zoo to keep Roopa company,” the committee members are reported to have told zoo officials.

Roopa is the only surviving elephant at Kankaria after her mate Ashok died in 2011. Roopa had also delivered a baby elephant some years ago but it did not survive for long. The elephant committee was set up as part of the Project Elephant constituted on the lines of Project Tiger to safeguard the elephants in the country. It was declared under this project that no elephant should be allowed to be kept in a zoo or circus.