Elephants to get electronic identity cards

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 28 (UNI) The captive elephants in Kerala will soon get an electronic identity card, to be implanted on them in the form of a microchip.

Chief Wildlife Warden V Gopinath told UNI that the formal implanting of the device, a project of the Union Government, would be held on October two in connection with the Wildlife Week celebrations.

Though the project had already been launched in Assam, Kerala was the first state to implement it in South India, he added.

The microchip to be implanted in the skin just behind the ear of the animal would contain all the details pertaining to it. Around 900 pachyderms would be fixed with the electronic identity cards, Mr Gopinath said.

The data could be decoded by an electronic reader at a distance of 10 centimetres from the implanted chip, he said and added that it would help a great deal in containing the cruelties against captive elephants.

Mr Gopinath said the device would help to keep a close watch on the elephants and also to ensure that they were properly maintained and treated by mahouts.

All the elephants possessing the certification of the Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, would be given the ID chip, he added.

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