From Shyam Sundar Vattam, Mysore: Authorities at the Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Park, Mysore, are finding hard to push for the adoption of elephants because of the 'jumbo' cost involved in it.
There has been just one instance of a pachyderm being adopted. The zoo has fixed a sum of Rs 1.60 lakh per year as the cost of adoption of an elephant.
Even as the government confirmed "cyanide poison in ragi balls" as a cause for the elephants' death, the Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the Forest Department to find out the culprits behind the episode in Kappasoge village near Nanjangud and submit a report before December 9.
Within hours of the High Court issued a suo motu notice to State government on increasing elephant deaths, a meeting has decided to strengthen existing task force, form village committees and infuse additional funds to build up infrastructure to deal with wild elephants.
The alarming rate of serial deaths of elephants in recent days has prompted the Karnataka High Court to step in and demand an explanation from the public authorities concerned, both in the State and at the Centre.
In a tragic incident, four elephants including a mother and a calf have died under mysterious circumstances in Nanjangud taluk of Mysore district on Wednesday.
The forest officials of Mysore Division seized three elephants belonging to a circus company in the city on Tuesday.
Following complaints by two NGOs about the poor upkeep of the pachyderms at the Great Bombay Circus Company, the officials seized the jumbos and sent to Bannerghatta Biological Park in three trucks for treatment.
