According to the documents, the elephant was first declared as male and then the same elephant was declared as female. “We inspected the circus almost a fortnight back, following a report in the media, and today a team headed by veterinary expert Dr MP Singh from Chattbir examined the elephant," said Patiala DFO (Wildlife) Ashwani Kumar Tangri.
A team of veterinary doctors from Chhatbir Zoo and officials of the wildlife department had a tough time in taking blood samples of a female elephant calf on the Jumbo Circus premises at Patiala today.
The calf - Ganga - is said to be procured by the circus management after illegally exchanging it with a male calf - Ganesh - an offspring of Anarkali, a female elephant, and Lucky Prasad, a tusker.
Veterinary doctors led by Dr MP Singh reached the circus premises this morning and took blood samples of Anarkali and Lucky Prasad.
Ganga was furious after veterinarians approached her and tried to collect the blood sample. The team failed to restrain her for over four hours even though all the four legs and the tail of the calf were tied with ropes. The officials later made a cut on her ear and collected the blood sample.
The samples of the jumbos are being taken to establish the parentage of the calf after the circus management was dragged in a controversy with the wildlife department, seizing its records pertaining to the gender of the calf. Read the full report here.
Source: Tribune Reporters, The Tribune, Jalandhar/Patiala.
