A twist of fate brought the elephant under the custody of the forest department and they requested our intervention. Years of abuse and mistreatment had had a detrimental effect on the elephant’s health. Partially blind in the left eye, Sanjay was severely malnourished with severe wounds on his body and even tail. The elephant’s feet are also in a terrible condition with overgrown toenails and inflammation.
The district Court had issued an order stating that the elephant be sent to the Elephant Conservation and Care Center in Mathura. Although we initially planned to rescue this elephant after securing additional land for the elephants, we were then informed that there was a secret effort to get a stay on the court order and if that happened then the elephant would disappear and there were strong chances that we may never find him again. We realized that we had to act fast and had a really small window of 36 hours to move the elephant after which it could take us months or even years to locate him again.
