Tenkasi
An aged elephant that had been suffering from chronic wounds for years in Tenkasi has been translocated to the Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre near Tiruchi.
The female pachyderm, Jamela, aged around 60 years, has been in captive with a private person near Tenkasi. A.S. Ramesh, an animal activist from Chennai, who first noticed the wounds on her hip, lodged a complaint with the Department of Forest some months back.
“However, there was no response to my complaint to rescue the animal,” Mr. Ramesh said.
Recently he saw the photographs of the elephant uploaded in social media. “I found that the animal continued to suffer with the wound and again sought the intervention of officials from the Department of Forests,” he said.
Since, the private owner was taking the captive animal to different places for various functions, the animal suffered more, he complained.
“Jamela had the wound for nearly 15 years and was under treatment. However, with the limited facility with the owner, the wound was not healing fast,” the District Forest Officer N. Senthil Kumar said. After receiving the complaint, veterinary doctors from the Forest Department attended to the wound.
“But, we thought that taking the jumbo to the rehabilitation centre could give the aged animal some quick relief,” he added.
The DFO got a nod from the district-level Captive Elephant Welfare Committee to take Jamela to the rehabilitation centre. Following an order from the Chief Wildlife Warden, Chennai, Yuvaraj, the elephant was transported on Saturday.
“Jamela has reached the centre and would get better medical treatment,” he said. Besides, the rest would ensure that the wound gets healed sooner,” the DFO added.