The Centre for Research on Animal Rights (CRAR) and the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO) have urged the Karnataka government to stop the capture of wild elephants in the human-elephant conflict zone in Hassan.
Both organisations have termed the ongoing operation ‘completely unscientific’ and called it a knee-jerk reaction to appease politicians and people rather than find a solution in any way. “Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that capture and relocation do not work as a strategy. Elephants always return to their home range,” said the press release issued by the organisations on January 20.
Alok Hisarwala, founder of CRAR, said that the capture of elephants from the wild was an egregious exercise of the power embedded in Section 11 of the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 1972, which is leading to the death of innocent wild elephants and must be stopped at once.
