| Recommendations 1. Planners and policy makers in India should acknowledge that capturing and domesticating wild elephants is an integral part of their conservation and management. 2. A formal census of domesticated elephants should be carried out in India urgently. 3. A general amnesty should be given to all elephant owners who have failed to apply for ownership certificates. They should be given at least six months to obtain ownership certificates. The legal authority of issuing ownership certificates should be delegated to the district level forest officers. NGOs, Livestock Department and elephant owners should be involved in the exercise. Publicity and confidence building measures should precede the drive for registration. 4. Elephant owners should be encouraged to form associations, which can be involved in registration and other welfare, programmes for elephants and mahouts. Elephants having ownership certificates should be provided with free periodic vaccination. The Government of India may also initiate an insurance programme for registered elephants and their mahouts. 5. The capture of wild elephants should be done only through the SFD agencies, but ownership of and the domestic trade in domesticated elephants should be liberalized. Necessary amendments in the WPA-1972 should be introduced for this purpose. 6. Ownership certificates should be suitably designed to include all relevant information about the elephant. Affixation of an identification mark on the elephant should be made legally binding and a uniform system of marking should be adopted all over India. 7. Necessary norms and standards should be prescribed for elephant owners and enforced through the WPA-1972. 8. A review of the PCA-1960 and various rules framed thereunder should be undertaken to make them relevant to captive elephants. If necessary, a separate set of rules applicable to domesticated elephants should be promulgated under the PCA-1960. 9. A training programme for veterinarians posted in districts having wild and captive elephants should be launched. This should focus on the health management of elephants and on allied topics. Properly equipped laboratories should be set up in all such districts to assist the elephant vets. In each geographical region of India, at least one veterinary college should be identified and developed as a centre of excellence for research and training in elephant health care. 10. Suitable research should be undertaken for evolving efficient and painless methods of training and handling elephants in captivity. |
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