Bijlee laid to rest at undisclosed location
The last rites of the 58-year-old Bijlee, the elephant, were performed at an undisclosed location on Sunday and her post-mortem was conducted at the Animal Hospital in Parel.
On June 11, Bijlee, 58, was found lying on the busy Mulund-Bhandup Link Road in eastern Mumbai, reportedly abandoned by her owner. Ganesh Nayak of Animals Matter to Me (AMTM), along with NGO Rescue Ink Association for Wildlife (RAWW) and two locals Jagdish Shetty and Raju Iyer, who had seen Bijlee for many years, had been taking care of Bijlee for the past 20 days.
AMTM, together with RAWW, Mr Shetty and Mr Iyer raised funds and also contributions in kind for the ailing elephant.
Mr Nayak said, “We appealed to people to come forward and help us. We are thankful to all the donors who contributed whole-heartedly. We received `11,24,834.28 as on June 30 and the balance amount of `6,76,311.28 is still with us. From
this amount a few payments (last 2 days) are still to be paid from our side to the vendors. Donors, who would like
a refund, can mail us on ganesh@amtmindia.org. Alternatively, the amount can be used for care and upkeep of other ailing elephants in the city.”
Incidentally, the owners of Bijlee have another elephant named Lakshmi who is 18 years old and obese by 750 kilograms. She needs a strict diet regime lest she doesn’t meet the same fate as Bijlee. ATMT offered to help, but the owners insisted that they will look after her and parting from her would also compromise their livelihood.
“We appeal to the state government to rehabilitate the owners of Bijlee and also Lakshmi, so that both can lead a safer life,” said Mr Nayak.
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