Two male elephants held in Madhya Pradesh Tiger Reserve will be freed and released in the forest of their home state Chhattisgarh.
Elsa Foundation had written a letter to Additional Chief Secretary of Forest Department Ashok Barnwal demanding to release both the elephants and release them in the home range (forests of Chhattisgarh). The Forest Department has agreed to this.
Actually, two male elephants that came from Chhattisgarh in February and March 2024 in Madhya Pradesh were caught from Shahdol and Anuppur and kept captive in Kanha Tiger Reserve and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.
On the demand of the organization, the Forest Department has agreed to release the elephants back in the forest after keeping them captive.
On March 2, 2024, a male elephant (age 10 years) was caught from North Shahdol Forest Division and kept in Rama Elephant Camp of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. The second elephant (age 25 years) was captured from Anuppur Forest Division on 25 February 2024 and kept in Kisli Elephant Camp Kanha Tiger Reserve.
In a PIL pending in Jabalpur High Court regarding their release back, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has said that it will release the elephant kept in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and the other elephant has suffered injuries due to being tied with chains, it will be released as soon as it recovers.
A plan has been made to release both the elephants in different forest areas (away from its home area). The Forest Department committee has written that if the release of the first elephant fails, then that elephant will be captured again and kept in captivity. On this, Prakash, founder of Elsa Foundation, has written in the letter that releasing an elephant in an unfamiliar forest area has tragic consequences. Such release is extremely cruel and painful for the elephant. In Africa, displacement or rehabilitation is done in large groups of elephants.
The Foundation disagrees with the Forest Department's thinking
The Forest Department has formed a committee to release these elephants. According to the opinion given in the committee's report, these elephants have become accustomed to humans and cannot survive in the forest. But the Elsa Foundation does not agree with this. It says that these are wild elephants, which were captured a few months ago.
In this case, wildlife expert Ajay Dubey alleges that any elephant that comes to Madhya Pradesh from Chhattisgarh, the Forest Department captures it for use in the Tiger Reserve.
