Elephant death probe begins with footage

NEW DELHI: A three-member committee of experts on Wednesday began its inquiry into the controversial capture and death of a rogue elephant calf in Chhattisgarh.
The committee formed by the Union environment ministry began by viewing the footage shot by wildlife film-maker Mike Pandey''s team and discussed it with the lady under fire for the calf''s death - celebrated ''elephant woman'' Parbati Barua.
On Thursday, committee members are heading to Chhattisgarh.
The committee has been given one month to probe the circumstances and cause of death as well as the appropriateness of the techniques adopted for the capture. It will look for lapses or irregularities by any person or authority and suggest what can be done to avoid such tragedies in future.
The committee is headed by the ministry''s former additional director-general (wildlife) S C Sharma. The two other members are N Panneer Selvam, veterinary officer at the National Zoological Park here, and S Singsit, presently heading the Dehra Dun-based Wildlife Institute of India.
The signals are that it may all get a little messy, and personal. Barua has already rebutted charges that her team was to blame for the death and hit out at the state''s forest department for not defending her.
In a letter to the environment ministry, Barua had noted: "It appears that the senior forest officers of Chhattisgarh either do not have the technical competence to give a suitable reply to these allegations or they themselves have something to hide."
The controversy erupted when animal welfare activists, upset by the "archaic" methods of capture and the subsequent death, showed footage of the elephant''s suffering. Barua had described the footage shot by Pandey''s team as "highly biased" and maintained that deaths during capture and training were not unusual.
She had said that she did not use the traditional mela shikar capture method in the state. A bull tusker was chemically immobilised and captured by forest officers in Jashpur on February 6. This elephant, which had killed three persons, was given to her for training.
She contended that the chemical immobilisation wasn''t done professionally. The elephant was darted six times. One dart hit the trunk from close range and this wound did not heal. The elephant died on February 24. Forest department support was not adequate or timely, she said, adding the elephant was not treated cruelly.
But not everyone is convinced. Questions continue to be raised about the wounds the elephant suffered, the medical support available - and the methodology.
The Wildlife Trust of India, for one, is seeking a focus on the big picture of encroachments and loss of elephant habitat as it argues that catching a few here and there will not solve the problem. Its focus is also on methods of capture and avoidable trauma.