Politicos ask to lift ban on elephant use

Hyderabad, March 9: Forest officials are under extreme pressure from political leaders who want to lift the ban on hiring of captive elephants for processions.

The Nehru Zoological Park officials had turned down the request of the Secunderabad MP, Mr Anjan Kumar Yadav, to make use of elephants in a religious procession. The MP had written to the forest department seeking a relaxation of the ban.

A senior wildlife wing official said, “We are under tremendous pressure from

political leaders to relax the ban. They don’t understand the sensitivity of Wildlife Rules and Acts.” In December 2009, the state government had issued orders to stop the hiring of elephants for Moharrum, Bonalu and other processions.

The step was taken to prevent torture to the animals. On the other hand, forest officials are yet to shift the elephants from the Nehru Zoological Park in the city and zoos in Visakhapatnam and Tirupati to the elephant camps in Chittoor and North Andhra.