Check the temperature every day for the next week in Mumbai, exactly at 12.00 noon. That's when this elephant was being walked down the main road in the middle of Powai, day before yesterday. The road surface is burning hot but that doesn't matter to the "mahouts" sitting high up in the air, on the poor creature's back.
Of even less interest to them is the ban that was instituted in July 2007 on plying captive elephants on city roads. This has been so ineffective, that the senior-most forest official himself has expressed helplessness and suggested that the ban be lifted!
IDA India is taking action against this. Forest officials are supposed to be qualified to deal with any problem regarding wildlife and we want to remind them that this specific problem, namely captive elephants being made to walk all over Mumbai and the surrounding areas, whatever the weather, however heavy the traffic and the crowds of people all over the place, had better be dealt with, and fast. Maharashtra has no Rescue Centre for elephants and we are campaigning for one to be opened. If this happens, then the forest officials can arrest the mahout and offending "owner" of the animal, fine them, imprison them for keeping the elephant captive in the most horrendous conditions, and finally send the rescued elephant to the Rescue Centre.
At present they are 'helpless' because nobody, namely the police and the forest officials, knows what on earth to do with an elephant that they might rescue.
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