The owner of two Indian elephants says he'll agree to sell the 3{-ton animals if their former owner, who apparently has been hiding the pachyderms for four years, will return them. Richard Drake, owner of a now-closed Tehachapi, Calif., animal farm, said Sunday he wants to get fair market value for the 27-year-old female elephants, appraised at $70,000 apiece. Drake said he has spent ``thousands and thousands of dollars'' crisscrossing the country searching for Arlan Seidon, the man who fled with the elephants, Tory and Duchess. Seidon, who raised the elphants from infancy, contacted The Star Ledger of Newark several weeks ago from an undisclosed location and said he would return to face charges of third-degree theft if the elephants were not given to Drake. Seidon sold the elephants to the Drakes for $80,000 in 1981 but said he repossessed the animals for non-payment. The Drakes successfully fought the action and in May 1984 Superior Court Judge Peter Thomas awarded them $107,000 in damages. Seidon also charged that Drake, 50, and his son, Edward, 30, abused the animals. The Drakes deny that charge. Seidon, 58, fled with the elephants from a farm in Colts Neck Township while the animals were with a circus in New Jersey. He has been on the lam ever since. ``It's been at a standstill for four years,'' Drake said from his sister's Far Hills home. ``We have to do something.'' Drake said Sunday he had contacted Seidon's attorney, Isabelle Strauss of East Orange, and was awaiting an answer to his proposal. Ms. Strauss, an animal activist, was not in her office today for additional comment, a secretary said. She told The Star Ledger on Saturday that Seidon, who phones her periodically, would not allow the elephants to go to animal brokers who would sell them to other people. Ms. Strauss said a Vermont businessman is interested in the animals and that she is trying to work out a deal. Ms. Strauss has said she does not know where or how Seidon has been concealing the elephants. Seidon has said he left his farm at Fordland, Mo., and his career preparing animals for circus and television appearances to care for the elephants, which eat about 200 pounds off hay a day. He said he hasn't seen his four children or met his only grandson since he took off with the animals.
