Must have video record of all wildlife autopsies, MHC tells Forest department

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed the Forest Department to henceforth record complete video footage while conducting post-mortem examinations of dead elephants and other wildlife.

In October, a wild elephant that had entered the Poondi Velliangiri Aandavar Temple area on the foothills of the Western Ghats near Coimbatore died mysteriously within two days.

In this situation, S Muralidharan filed a petition in the High Court, alleging that the Forest Department had conducted the post-mortem examination and buried the elephant without revealing the cause of death.

The special bench that heard the petition had earlier directed the Forest Department to submit the post-mortem report along with details explaining the cause of the elephant's death.

When the case came up again before the special bench that hears matters related to wildlife and environmental protection, Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy, the Forest Department submitted its report.

After perusing the report, the judges asked the officials why the forensic examination procedure of the deceased elephant was not fully video recorded.

The department responded that the officials involved in the procedure were unable to capture the complete video footage due to heavy rain.

At that time, the amicus curiae informed the court that recently, in Perambattu, Bargur and surrounding areas, four elephants - three adults and a calf - had died. He requested that a complete video recording must be mandated during the post-mortem of these elephants as well.

Hearing the submissions, the judges stated that the Forest Department's report was unsatisfactory and ordered that autopsies of all dead elephants and other wildlife must be fully video recorded, strictly following the prescribed guidelines.

The court further directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests to issue a circular to all Forest Department officials regarding this instruction.