April 26 – A video of an elephant riding a truck is going viral on social media recently. In the video, the elephant is seen leaning on a tool and climbing onto the trolley of the truck.
Many social media users are sharing this video saying that this is the elephant that is going to be sent from Nepal to Qatar.
However, it is not true. Misinformation is being spread on social media that the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who came to Kathmandu on Tuesday, returned home on Wednesday and an elephant was also sent along with him.
The video, first posted on a Facebook page from Thailand on March 28, shows the trained elephants being loaded onto a truck at a different location.
The elephants which are said to be sent to Qatar are in Khorsor, Sauraha, and Chitwan. The Ministry of Forests and Environment said that it will take a few more days to send the elephant to Qatar as some international legal procedures have yet to be completed.
The spokesperson of the ministry, Badri Raj Dhungana, said that it will take time to send the elephants from Nepal to Qatar as technical and administrative matters have to be arranged. He said, “Sending elephants is not like offering something to someone, it has its procedures, which are yet to be completed.” After the process is completed, Qatar will hand over all the necessary details including elephant caregivers, procedures for treatment, monitoring etc within the system.
According to him, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an agreement and a CITES permit are required for their transportation. However, the CITIS license has not yet arrived to deal with elephants.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amrit Kumar Rai, informed that the elephants were not sent from Nepal along with the Emir of Qatar because the process of international treaty agreement was not completed. “Under the elephant protection diplomacy, Nepal was told to give a pair of elephants to Qatar as a gift, but as all the legal and administrative procedures have yet to be arranged, the elephants have not been sent with the King of Qatar,” said Ministry spokesperson Rai.
source-onlinekhabar
