Maneka ropes in Big B, Salman for elephant rehab

NEW DELHI: Slamming government for its apathy in protecting elephants, cabinet minister and wildlife activist Maneka Gandhi has demanded that rescue and rehabilitation centres be created for pachyderms. The minister who holds charge of the ministry of women and child development feels that not enough is being done to save elephants from being illtreated almost every day .

There are only 22,000 elephants left in the country . Of these at least 6,000 are in brutal and illegal captivity. About 600 elephants are killed every year, by starvation, beating, drowning and ill-treatment.Speaking on the issue Gandhi said, “The elephant, like the tiger, must be treated with the highest degree of legal protection. But because of government inattention, they are languishing...many are tortured and found begging in temples. The government must take responsibility .'' The Asian elephant is included in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 which means that technically it has the highest degree of legal protection, Gandhi said.But no one rescues these animals as the government has not built any rescue and rehabilitation centres for them.

The cost for keeping an elephant is also prohibitive. Each elephant costs about Rs 50,000 to 60,000 per month in terms of medical care, feed and rehabilitation. That is about Rs 7 lakh per elephant per year. The infrastructure required for housing each elephant also costs Rs 15-20 lakh for protected contact enclosures, ponds, covered shelters, enrichment structures and elephant keepers.

In a bid to generate funds for rehabilitation of the pach yderm, the minister and Wildlife SOS have teamed with Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, artistes like S H Raza, Thota Vaikuntam, Jogen Chowdhury , Subodh Gupta who have painted on fiberglass elephant statues. Proceeds from the exhibition will go to support the rescue centre.