Three elephants, Sandhya, 45, Indu, 35, and Jayanthi, 21, who had been living at a chain-free facility in Marakkanam for the last three and a half years, were forcibly shifted to Trichy on September 28.
The eviction came after a division bench of the Madras High Court on September 19 ordered the shifting of the jumbos from the Elefriends101 elephant care facility to the MR Palayam Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Trichy within four weeks.
But just a week after the order, the forest officials arrived.
According to sources at the Elefriends101 elephant care facility, these men, who were in a tearing hurry, resorted to hitting the elephants with bamboo sticks. The youngest elephant, Jayanthi, even had to endure beatings with a bullhook for putting up resistance.
"The officers were having a tough time trying to get the elephants into the trucks. They even used a JCB to push the elephants into the trucks," said a staff member at the centre, who did not want to be named.
The drama began the previous day. An Express team had reached the place around 7 am on September 26 for a shoot that had been planned. But in the afternoon came the turn of events.
ALSO WATCH: 'Beaten, pushed from the home they love', three elephants head to Trichy
A bunch of forest officials came to the facility with the High Court order to transfer the three elephants to the government facility.
The staff tried to convince the forest officials to give them some time so that the elephants could be better prepared to make the shift. After all, the three were set to leave a place where they had been given freedom, nutritious food and loads of care round the clock. But their plea fell on deaf ears.
Ramesh Amala Srinivasan, the manager of the facility, was scathing in his condemnation of what happened. "I have been placed under house arrest and they kept me away from the elephants. They treated me like a person who has committed a serious crime like murder. They didn't understand that these elephants were used to this place and the people here for the last three and a half years. Taking them forcibly is going to make matters worse," he said.
Kundhavi Devi, district captive elephant welfare committee member, was angry too. "There is a mafia against us which wants to close the centre down. We are taking care of the elephants the way it has to be. They have the freedom to walk around. They are not chained and live in a completely natural habitat. We provide them highly nutritious food and proper care. Yet this," she fumed.
When contacted, the forest officer denied the use of bamboo sticks and bullhooks to make the elephants climb the trucks. But the videos sent from the site and what we witnessed tell an entirely different tale.