Art auction to raise funds for conserving elephants

Vadodara: On Saturday evening, the city will host an auction for saving elephants that have been dying on the rail tracks since decades.
Shagun Mehra, an entrepreneur working for conservation of elephants, has organized an auction of valuable items, photographs, paintings and sculptures at the Laxmi Vilas Palace.
Proceedings from the auction will be used for saving the elephants in the wild.
“During my visit to Spain about one-and-half-years ago, a scientist told me that hundreds of elephants die in train accidents. I was shocked to know about it. When I returned to India, I did some research and learnt that about 300 elephants die due to train collisions every year,” Mehra told TOI.
“Elephants are important part of our ecosystem. So I decided to do something about it and began visiting the states that have population of elephants. I also launched Ear to the Wild Foundation (EWF) for conserving elephants and their habitat,” Mehra said. EWF has partnered with Wildlife Institute of India, state forest authorities and the Indian Railways for bringing down the elephant-train collisions.
She added that the money raised from the auction would be used for buying special sensors, conserving habitat of elephants and building bridges that elephants can use. Member of royal Gaekwad family, Radhikaraje Gaekwad, who has come out in support of the initiative, said, “We all know how elephants are dying due to train accidents and something must be done to save them. So I decided to support this cause. If you see, the emblem of Baroda state too has elephants.”
Apart from items, on auction is tea with Gaekwad, cooking lessons from chef Rahul Akerkar, bat having autograph of Sachin Tendulkar and luxury stay at a hotel in Sindhudurg.