The Bihar government will soon start DNA profiling of all captive elephants in the state to curb illegal trade of the pachyderm.
If all goes well, the DNA profiling project, supported by the Union environment ministry, will be undertaken by the state government from mid-December, P K Gupta, state’s chief wildlife warden, told PTI.
"The objective is to develop a comprehensive database of all captive elephants in the state. The database is expected to have genetic data along with pictures of each captive elephant. The move will help curb illegal trade of wild elephants.
"A mobile application and a tamper-proof sampling kit, developed by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), are being provided by the state forest departments for biological sampling," said Gupta.
Collection of blood and faecal samples of elephants for their profiling will be undertaken by qualified veterinarians, strictly under the supervision of state forest department officials, he stated.
"Adequate veterinary care will be taken at all stages. It has to be ensured that minimum trauma is caused to the elephants during the entire operation. Record of each elephant and its owner will help ascertain if any of the jumbos has been sold or traded illegally," he said.
According to Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, amended in 2002, sale of captive elephants, not registered with the state forest department, is banned.
The Wildlife (Protection) Act mandates suitable upkeep and maintenance as prerequisite for issuing ownership certificates. A large number of captive elephants in the states are privately owned and a majority of them are used for commercial or ceremonial purposes and rituals.
Saran district of Bihar has 11 captive elephants, followed by Gopalganj at eight, Patna, East Champaran Vaishali at six each and Siwan and Bhojpur at five each.
Samastipur, Gaya, Kaimur, Rohtas, Bhagalpur, Begusarai and Lakhisarai have one captive elephant each
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