THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If you are one among those numerous fans who passionately follow the status and parades of celebrity elephants during festival seasons, this news will make you a tad disappointed. But if you are a genuine lover of elephants and animals in general, you will feel relieved, if not happy. Yielding to the mounting pressure from animal rights activists in the country and beyond, the Forest Department has issued a notification calling for strict enforcement of provisions in the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2012, and its monitoring to prevent ill-treatment and cruelty towards them. More importantly, the Forest Department has for the first time publicly admitted there has been laxity in enforcing the provisions.
Chief wildlife warden P K Kesavan said in his notification: “Of late, several complaints are coming from within the country and abroad about captive elephants’ ill-treatment. More than 10 of them have died so far this year allegedly due to negligence and careless handling. Laxity in implementing the Captive Elephants Rules is cited as one reason for their poor condition.”
A meeting, at the forest headquarters, attended by wildlife warden and ACFs in the Social Forestry division among others, decided to oversee the enforcement of rules with immediate effect. Elephants which are in high demand and thereby likely to be overworked will be identified in every district and closely monitored. Their movement register will be verified.