For over a decade, the lone male African elephant in Delhi’s Nationwide Zoological Park stayed that method, spending lengthy days in strict isolation in a particular enclosure. He would go on occasional walks, watch the opposite elephants throughout the fence after which be introduced again to his crall.
It’s a standing that’s prone to change quickly for Shankar because the Delhi zoo is about to get him two feminine elephants, one every from Botswana and Zimbabwe, as companions.
Shankar, a diplomatic reward from Zimbabwe in 1996 to then Indian president Shankar Dayal Sharma, arrived in Delhi in 1998 with Vimbai, a feminine African elephant. However Vimbai died in 2001 and a younger Shankar was left on their own.
Zoo Director Sanjeet Kumar mentioned Shankar was initially moved to the enclosure of the Asian elephants however as he reached adolescence, in 2012, he was separated and stored in a specifically constructed African Elephant Enclosure. Since then, he has stayed in isolation, away from the 2 Asian elephants within the zoo.
In 2010, the Delhi zoo wrote to parks in Africa looking for both a mate for Shankar or asking them to take him again. However the efforts yielded no outcomes.
The choice to get companions for Shankar comes within the backdrop of the World Affiliation of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) suspending the membership of the Delhi zoo for six months over issues that Shankar was allegedly ill-treated whereas he was in ‘musth’ – an annual situation when bull elephants usually present aggressive and unpredictable behaviour attributable to a spike of their testosterone ranges. Shankar, whose musth lasted from July to September this yr, had been restrained throughout this era, resulting in a sequence burn damage and prompting authorities to tranquilise the animal. The damage and the resultant stress to the elephant had led to issues from WAZA and animal specialists about its alleged ill-treatment.
A senior Delhi zoo official mentioned that although Shankar is in a separate enclosure, they’ve ensured that he has “visible contact” with the 2 Asian elephants within the zoo — Rajalakshmi and Hira Gaj. “We don’t preserve (the Asian and African) elephants in the identical enclosure… with the intention to preserve species purity. However this doesn’t imply Shankar is stored in isolation. When he was youthful, we used to take him for walks with the Asian elephants. Although the enclosures are totally different now, Shankar remains to be often taken for walks to try the (Asian) elephants,” mentioned the official.
Pointers issued by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) in 2013 say zoological parks should not preserve animals single for greater than six months and are anticipated to make preparations to acquire viable companions. “It’s endorsed to deal with elephants in small teams and never as single animals,” learn the rules.
A companion for Shankar
Zoo authorities hope that with the anticipated arrival of the feminine elephants from Botswana and Zimbabwe, Shankar’s stress will cut back significantly with the “proper social grouping”.
“The thought isn’t just to get a mate for Shankar, however a companion. We couldn’t have gotten male elephants as a result of that may have brought about infighting,” Director Kumar mentioned.
Zoo authorities say they’re now working in the direction of welcoming the brand new members. Authorities in Zimbabwe have requested their counterparts in Delhi to specify their necessities for the brand new elephants, from the age group and weight to “sure ecological facets”, Director Kumar mentioned.
The Botswana authorities has additionally sought transportation bills, which the Delhi zoo has pegged at Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore.
The director added that as a part of their efforts to make sure a easy transition for the newcomers, the zoo is working in the direction of getting regulatory approvals and looking for no-objection certificates, moreover organising quarantine services.
“As per worldwide protocols, the animal is educated as much as a month earlier than it may well enter the transport crate. We should bear the extra prices for the trainers,” Kumar mentioned.
The director additionally mentioned that specialists from South Africa and Vantara, an animal shelter in Gujarat’s Jamnagar run by the Reliance Basis, are offering suggestions for the welfare of Shankar, particularly on the query of the way to deal with him throughout his musth section.
“We’ve been making an attempt to get the elephants for months. It’s only now, by means of the diplomatic efforts of the Union Minister (Mos, Surroundings, Forest and Local weather Change Kirti Vardhan Singh), that the African zoos have agreed to ship their animals. Now that they’ve agreed to donate, our focus shall be on the optimistic enrichment wanted for the socialisation of the animals,” mentioned Dr Sanjay Shukla, member secretary of the CZA.
The zoo life
Specialists, nonetheless, warned that introducing new elephants is probably not the one answer to regulate Shankar’s aggression during times of musth.
There have been a number of ethics-based arguments surrounding the maintenance of elephants in captivity in zoo techniques.
“Captivity can not accommodate who elephants actually are… Ethically talking, it’s very tough to fulfil the organic wants of musth for bull elephants in any type of zoo administration. It’s a frequent false impression that each captive bull needs to be given an opportunity to breed throughout musth. Within the wild, musth is an adaptation extra for male-to-male aggression and dominance institution,” mentioned Kerala-based senior forest veterinary officer David Abraham.
In accordance with Suparna Ganguly, analysis member of the Bengaluru-based Captive Elephant Analysis Staff, “No quantity of musth enclosures or preparations can ever replicate a captive elephant’s want for autonomy and selections, that the wild can supply. Elephants in captivity are notoriously tough to take care of… Essentially the most difficult is the bull elephant… One of many hardest to navigate is the musth state, which is a pure, organic phenomenon. Nonetheless, in an effort to regulate, repress, delay or speed up musth, the bull elephant in India is topic to untold tortures and agonies in captivity. Ganguly additional argued that elephants are herd animals and “don’t all the time like every particular person that’s thrust upon them”.
