People gave an emotional farewell to a 36-year-old female elephant, Mahadevi, at a mutt in Maharashtra's Kolhapur as the tusker moved to a new home, a Jamnagar-based animal welfare facility.
The elephant was transferred to representatives of the Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust run by Vantara, an animal welfare centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat, from the Kolhapur mutt on Monday.
The relocation took place after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by the mutt, challenging the Bombay High Court order upholding the decision of a High Powered Committee (HPC) to relocate the animal to the Gujarat facility.
The pachyderm was given an emotional farewell by devotees of Swasthishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Sanstha, a religious body, as well as residents of Nandani village under Karvir tehsil of Kolhapur late Monday evening.
On July 16, the HC upheld the HPC's decision to relocate the jumbo to the Gujarat-based facility, citing an elephant's right to quality life must take precedence over humans' right to use it for religious purposes.
