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New Delhi: Campaign saves Indian elephant from Armenian zoo

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  • New Delhi: Campaign saves Indian elephant from Armenian zoo

    Deutsche Presse-Agentur
    April 30, 2005, Saturday
    11:17:39 Central European Time

    Campaign saves Indian elephant from Armenian zoo

    New Delhi


    After a four-month campaign by Indian animal lovers, the government
    relented and said it would not gift a baby elephant to Armenia, it
    was reported Saturday.

    The federal government had promised to send a six-year-old elephant,
    named Veda, to join the only male elephant in Armenia's zoo, the
    Hindu newspaper reported.

    Veda was born in the Bannerghatta national park outside the southern
    Indian city of Bangalore, and locals complained she would not survive
    the freezing temperatures of Armenia.

    Animal lovers said it would be cruel to separate baby Veda from her
    grandmother Suvarna, mother Vanita, brother Gokula and sister Gowri,
    as elephants are very social animals.

    They wrote letters to Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime
    Minister Manmohan Singh and held protests outside the park that is
    Veda's home. Their campaign was supported by the Britain-based Born
    Free Foundation.

    On Friday, the government relented and said Veda could stay with her
    family in Bangalore. School children and animal rights activists
    celebrated at the park, distributed sweets and offered prayers at a
    local temple.

    They held banners that said, "Elephantine thanks to the PM" and "Veda
    saved from a cruel fate".

    In 1999, Armenian officials asked the Indian government for a female
    elephant for their lone male originally from Moscow. In 2003, then
    Indian premier Atal Behari Vajpayee promised them an elephant during
    his visit to Armenia.

    The lone 15-year-old elephant was also from India and very lonely in
    the Armenian zoo. "Maybe he should be brought back to India," said
    animal rights activist Suparna Baksi-Ganguly, who led the campaign
    for Veda. dpa ar sc
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