Jumbo owner gets custody of tusks after 15-year legal battle

 A man had to fight a 15-year-long legal battle to regain the custody of two tusks of an elephant he had reared all by himself. Forest officials had confiscated the tusks under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Karunakara Poojary, a resident of Uppinangady, owned an elephant which died on Kathlekhan estate in Lakkavalli of Bhadravathi forest division on July 27, 1995. He obtained permission from the Shivamogga conservator of forests on August 5, 1998, for the custody of the tusks.

To ensure their safety, he kept them in the house of one S K Anand at Nehru Nagar in Kabaka. But forest officials confiscated them, contending that Poojary had kept them illegally.

He moved the court against the forest department’s action.  Following the order, the tusks were handed over to Poojary at the Range Forest Office in Puttur on Thursday. While the right tusk weighs 11 kg,  the left one’s weight is 10 kg.