CHENNAI: The forest bench of the Madras High Court on Friday instructed the state chief wildlife warden to initiate proceedings to destroy the large quantity of elephant ivory stock in the forest department’s possession.
The directions were issued following a confirmed ivory theft reported in Vandalur Zoo, wherein a temporary worker stole two pieces of tusk weighing 1 kg, and gave to traders for sale. The theft came to light after Tamil Nadu Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Tambaram forest range office conducted a joint operation last month and arrested four people. The zoo’s temporary worker Satish alias Appu, who is the prime accused in the case, is still at large.
While a departmental inquiry is on and Vandalur Zoo forest ranger was suspended, Vandalur Zoo director Ashish Kumar Srivastava refuted media reports claiming one tonne of ivory was stolen, calling them “malicious”. “The total quantity of ivory is 1.83 tonnes and the stolen pieces weigh 1 kg, which have already been recovered. The complete enumeration of the stockpile is over,” he told the forest bench, comprising justices N Satish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy.
Srivastava and Chief Wildlife Warden Srinivas R Reddy appeared virtually before the court and informed that there was difficulty in destroying the ivory stock as there was a ban by the centre till recently. “Now, the Union environment ministry has issued guidelines to destroy the ivory. We have already asked all the forest divisions to report the ivory quantities, after which proceedings will be issued and a committee will be formed under whose supervision, the ivory stock will be destroyed,” Reddy told the court.
Reddy said the stock under the forest department’s possession will be destroyed, while 1.5 tonnes of ivory, under the custody of different courts, will be destroyed after the respective cases are disposed of.
The bench posted the matter to December 2 and asked the state forest department to submit a detailed status report on the quantity of elephant ivory stock across the state in different forest divisions and if possible, destroy the stock by December 2.