Chennai: After receiving complaints about the ill-treatment of the animal, animal welfare activists on Saturday rescued a 35-year-old elephant, which was brought from Tiruchy to the city to welcome Union human resource minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday.
The minister was attending the National convention of Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana at Kamarajar Hall here. Officials from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) rescued the animal, even before the minister had visited the venue and noted that the owner, belonging to Tiruchy acquired no license for the transportation.
Velachery forest range officer, who inspected the animal had clarified that no permission was sought for the transportation. “In the documents submitted, the permission was obtained for a 56-year-old elephant to the Pilliyar Temple at Teynampet. However, not only did they change the venue, the animal was changed too, as the ranger confirmed the age of this elephant to be around 35 years,” said SPCA secretary T. Tyagarajan
SPCA inspectors S. Rajendran and P. Chandra Sekar, who rescued the animal, said that the animal was made to collect alms, which is a violation of
the Performing Animals Act. The animal will be taken to the Veterinary Hospital, Vepery on Sunday to conduct medical checkup, before submitting in the Egmore court on Monday.
