BENGALURU: In wake of the death of a tourist in Dubare elephant camp due to a fight between two elephants, experts, veterinarians and retired forest department officials have stressed the urgent need to revise the elephant management guidelines.
They said that owing to the present situation, where tourist interaction with camp elephants is rising, increasing man-elephant conflict and better reinforced elephant training practices are being adopted world over, revision and stringent implementation of the guidelines at the ground level has become crucial.
The guidelines were chalked out under the Wildlife Protection Act, for the upkeep of captive elephants in forest camps, temples and with private individuals.
“Karnataka is home to the highest number of camp elephants - 114. There has been laxity in the method of operations. The rise in man-animal conflict cases, the rising incidents of injuries to staffers, mahouts, farmers, tribals and now a tourist is a rising concern.
There is a need to update the gazette rules for elephant management at the Central and state levels,” said an official from the ministry of environment, forests and climate change.
The experts pointed out that the rules mandate how the animals should be kept in the camps, the size of the stalls, hygiene, nutrition, presence of water bodies, number of mahouts and other such basics.
It does not mention the presence of tourists, training given by mahouts, training of mahouts and recreation activities. All these factors need to be looked into, said Dr Ashraf NVK, a veterinarian and senior advisor with the Wildlife Trust of India.
Ashraf said the traditional methods adopted by mahouts to train elephants also need to be done away with. There are successful alternative reinforcement based training methods which can be used.
There is no need to hit or injure the animal while training to follow the mahout’s command. This built up anger comes out when the elephant, especially bulls that are in musth, and they tend to kill or injure their mahouts. This has been observed in most of the cases, he said.
Veterinarians working with the department said, camp elephants are required for kumki operations and bulls are ideal for this. “Most of these camp elephants were captured after human death, conflicts and raids, and so in crude forms.
They are then kept in kraals (small enclosures restricting their movement) and chained. They have inborn aggression. The protocols are for camp management, not for training the elephants. When bulls come in close contact, the triggered reaction will be intense, and more so if they have a history of aggressiveness.
Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife) PC Rai said the revised guidelines were being prepared. But now it needs to be paced with newer insights. The severe gender imbalance in the camps also needs to be addressed.
PCCF (wildlife) Kumar Pushkar said, “We are revising the guidelines of camp and private elephants. The current requirements are being noted for quick preparation.”
Kanjan out of Dasara
Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre, in a press statement, has confirmed that Kanjan, who was part of the Mysuru Dasara festivities for the past three years, will not be part of the festival anymore. Forest officials said a committee comprising veterinarians, Dasara Authority members, department officials and experts will take the final decision, but a report will be sent from Dubare on the incident, along with the recommendation not to include him or any other elephant which has a history of aggression in the list. This is because they tend to draw more tourists, agitating them further. ens