Seven Delhi elephants get micro-chipped

New Delhi, Oct 10 - Seven captive elephants in the Indian capital have been micro-chipped by an NGO as part of efforts to regulate the trafficking and exploitation of the animals.

'By micro-chipping the elephants, we can monitor and control the illegal trade and trafficking of captive elephants. Elephant traders and owners resort to capturing elephant calves from the wild and separate them from their herds.' said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of the NGO Wildlife S.O.S.

The micro-chipping was part of the Wildlife Week, which was celebrated during Oct 1-7 by conservationists, animal lovers and state governments across the country to reiterate their commitment to conservation of wildlife.

'With this, only four elephants now remain to be micro-chipped out of the total 31 captive elephants in Delhi,' said Vasudha Mehta, communication officer of Wildlife SOS.

'The micro-chipping of the elephants was carried out under the guidance of D.M. Shukla, chief wildlife warden and conservator of forests, Delhi. The remaining four elephants will be micro-chipped this week.' Mehta said.

S. Kumar, the Wildlife S.O.S veterinarian who has an exceptional record of working with elephants in states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala, inserted the microchip in the elephants, Vasudha told IANS.

Information on each elephant and its owner has also been documented in the chip. As a result, veterinarians can know what disease an elephant has been suffering from. Any new elephants illegally captured from the forests can also be detected.

Delhi has 31 captive elephants that are used during religious ceremonies, weddings and other public functions. They had been living in the trans-Yamuna area of Delhi for the past many decades. But last year they had to relocate along with their owners in view of preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in the capital.

Micro-chipping is carried out for identification of animals, which involves a unique 12-digit identification tag for each elephant in the form of a transponder or chip.

The chip, which is the size of a rice grain, is planted under the subcutaneous layer of skin behind the elephant's ear. The transponder is detected through a special microchip reader, a scanning instrument.

The wildlife inspectors who supervised the micro-chipping procedure have instructed the owners to get their elephants examined by the Wildlife S.O.S veterinarian on a periodic basis for any health ailments.

'The owners are required to submit to us a quarterly health certificate duly signed by the veterinarian. This would ensure that the animals are not subjected to cruelty and exploitation,' an official said.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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