Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Indian counterpart on preventing the practice of capturing and breaking young elephants in India for use in the tourism industry.

Prime Ministers David Cameron and Narendra Modi met in London in November 2015 and issued a joint statement in which they resolved to work together to improve protection for both captive and wild Asian elephants. There have been no discussions with the Indian Government specifically on banning the use of elephants in tourist attractions or preventing the capturing and breaking of young elephants for use in the tourism industry. However, further official level discussions have taken place with the Indian High Commission to discuss the joint statement and discuss specific areas on which we might work constructively beyond international fora such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Within CITES the UK has led on securing agreement to measures to increase focus on protecting Asian elephants. These include the strengthening of national legislation and enforcement to combat illegal trade in live Asian elephants, for range countries to develop strategies to manage their captive domestic populations and to develop and apply a regional registration and marking system covering domestic Asian elephants.