New Delhi: Thirteen animal protection organisations have urged Rajya Sabha MPs to help remove an exception that makes it possible for privately held elephants’ ownership to be transferred for “religious and any other” purposes – which they feel paves the way for the hunting of such animals.An exception proposed in section 43 of the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill 2022 (WLPA), allows the transfer of ownership of elephants – usually through donating or gifting – for religious or other purposes.The original Wildlife Protection Act is 50 years old. The Amendment Bill has received consistent criticism for ignoring experts’ voices even before these bodies wrote to the MPs.A joint letter to the Rajya Sabha MPs was issued by the Centre for Research on Animal Rights (CRAR), Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC), Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), Cape Foundation, Elsa Foundation, Youth for Animals, People for Animals Goa, Peta India, Walking Eye Foundation for Animal Advocacy, World Animal Protection, Heritage Animal Task Force, Sage Foundation, and Kaziranga Wildlife Society.Also read: Ministry’s Draft Changes To Act Undermine How India Protects Its WildlifeThe groups have urged the MPs to return the Bill to the Lower House and have it re-examined.While the WLPA is in line with the main goal of ending illegal trade in wild animals, the exception will end up having the opposite effect, the groups argue.“Creating such an exception for the transfer of ownership of elephants could open the doors to the capture and hunting of elephants from the wild. This is a regressive step,” CRAR founder Alok Hisarwala said in a press release issued by the 13 bodies.Allowing the exception will not only defeat the purpose of the main law but will amount to a “wildlife crime,” the groups say.“Rather than further encouraging the trade in elephants, the new amendment must continue the government’s current policy of phasing out private captivity and commercial use of elephants,” it observes in the press release.Private ownership of elephants is currently made possible by Section 40 of the WLPA, which the activists are also for tightening. In their letter to the MPs, they have demanded that the private ownership of elephants be phased out in a timely manner.In an analysis for The Wire Science, conservationist Neha Sinha had noted:“Elephants have a unique place in the WLPA. They are threatened animals that enjoy protection under the WLPA, but due to their cultural, and sometimes economic, importance, this is the only wild animal protected under the WLPA that can be kept in captivity. The caveat is that the owner should have got the animal through any means other than commercial sale and purchase. But how many times can the same animal be inherited, and where do gift elephants come from?”The groups have also called on the Upper House MPs to write to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and amplify the threat to elephants before the Bill is tabled.