Not an inch of elephant corridor should be spared to encroachments: Madras HC

The Madras High Court on Friday said not an inch of land in the elephant corridors in the Western Ghats should be allowed to be encroached upon.

The First Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy made the observation while disposing of a public interest writ petition (PIL) from a city-based animal activist Murugavel. According to the petitioner, the forest officials were taking steps to capture a 40-year-old tusker called 'Rivaldo' roaming in the forests of Masinagudi in Nilgiris district and take it the elephant rejuvenation camp.

He sought to restrain the department from doing so. When the PIL came up today, the government counsel told the judges that Rivaldo did not turn violent and cause damage to property or injury to humans. After necessary treatment for injuries of the pachyderm at the camp, the animal should be released in the wild, he added.

The Bench noted that the number of elephants in captivity in Tamil Nadu appears to be beyond what can be ignored.

Establishments of human habitations along elephant corridors were also on the rise, it noted and hoped that the officials would not allow even an inch of forest land to be encroached upon and to remove the existing encroachments.