A video of an elephant calf being tied with a pair of chains and beaten up by two men reportedly in Comilla has gone viral on Facebook.
The 30-second video shows the calf being beaten mercilessly by the two men in front of half a dozen spectators, including two members of the Fire Service.
Netizens heavily criticized the incident and the silence on the part of the spectators, especially the firefighters. A number of animal rights campaigners voluntarily began a search for the calf, forming groups through the social networking platform.
After a search that went on for several hours, the calf was finally located at a village between Debidwar and Muradnagar in Comilla on Wednesday afternoon. The calf was reportedly being brought to Chittagong.
However, the Mahout (elephant rider) did not cooperate with the local people and forced the animal to run here and there without an aim. Local people and Forest Department staff were following the elephant as of Wednesday night.
Rakibul Haque Amil, founder and chairman of the People for Animal Welfare (PAW) Foundation, in a Facebook post said he had contacted the Adviser for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Ministry, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, who promised to look into the matter herself.
In another social media post, Amil said that he had gone to the chief forest conservator’s office to bring the matter to attention. Later, the officials of the Comilla Forest Department were tasked with locating the calf.
Meanwhile, netizens have called on the government to punish the culprits and bring an end to animal torture. They demanded that the elephant be rescued and taken to a safari park within the country. Many also voiced a demand for a list of those holding licences for rare animals at small firms.
Earlier on February 25, the High Court issued a rule asking why steps should not be taken to stop cruelty to elephants in the name of training.
The court also stayed the issuance of new licenses and renewal of old licenses for rearing wild animals and elephants in the interim period, and asked why it should not be declared illegal.