Overview

• Mahadevi departed Kolhapur’s Jain Math on July 30 under tight security and is currently en route to the Gujarat facility in an animal ambulance.
• Local protests were defused by police when villagers and mutt devotees initially pelted stones at the relocation team.
• Veterinary inspections documented foot rot, overgrown nails, arthritis and stereotypic head bobbing that prompted a High Powered Committee to order her move for dignified care.
• Vantara’s Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust in Jamnagar provides hydrotherapy, socialisation with other elephants and specialised veterinary treatment.
• The relocation caps a judicial process in which the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court upheld animal welfare rights over religious traditions under the Wildlife Protection Act.