Jumbo death: NGO seeks police action against owner, Film City

In the wake of the death of an elephant that was hired for a photoshoot in Goregaon’s Film City, the Plant & Animals Welfare Society (PAWS) wrote to the Aarey police demanding that it book its owner, the organisers and the Film City management.

The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), in 2013, had written a letter on November 27, 2013 and stated an inspection conducted on elephants owned by Sabha Shankar Pandey by a committee of expert veterinarians by the Thane Forest Department (TFD) had concluded the pachyderms’ owners and mahouts had exposed them to cruelty. All the elephants examined had been maintained very poorly by their owners. The letter, a copy of which is in this paper’s possession, stated, “No proper attention is paid towards the important and essential husbandry practices such as providing proper shelter, feet care, vaccinations dowering, exercise and proper diet.”

The letter also stated, “As per our information received on July 30 2013, letter of the office of the deputy conservator of forest TFD addressed to the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Government of Bihar, has requested them to cancel the ownership certificates of all the elephants belonging to Shri. Sabha Shankar Pandey R/o. Sakin Amabarne Post, Suriyava, District Madhori (Uttar Pradesh)” (sic).

Sunish Subramanian, founder of PAWS Mumbai, said, “We have written to the Aarey police station to thoroughly investigate the matter and register an FIR against not only Pandey but also the Film City and the shoot organisers.