KOCHI: It seems there is no end to cruelty towards captive elephants in Kerala. And, with another festival season in full swing, things have worsened. Law enforcement authorities, however, are apparently looking the other way, citing lack of clear guidelines, which has led to more violations.
Of late, there have been reports that mahouts are making elephants perform stunts during festivals and other programmes after allegedly taking money from jumbo fans and vloggers.
A reel featuring an elephant raising its trunk and forelegs at a festival had gone viral on social media recently. In the video, the mahouts were seen striking at the elephant’s legs to make it jump.
The forest department offices are flooded with complaints alleging torture of elephants in the name of festivals. However, the department has been unable to initiate strict action reportedly due to intervention by leaders of caste organisations, religious bodies and political parties.
There have also been complaints of mahouts using bull hooks to make elephants raise their head during festivals. Though ‘Thalapokka Malsaram’ — the competition to select the tallest elephant — is banned in the state, many mahouts make elephants raise the head to satisfy fans.
The forest authorities do not take action against such violations claiming lack of clear guidelines in the Kerala Captive Elephants Management Rules to deal with such practices.
“There have been 14 incidents of elephants running amok reported between February 23 and 27. I have filed 50 complaints regarding violation of guidelines for elephant parade during the past two months,” said Heritage Animal Task Force secretary V K Venkitachalam.
‘Making jumbos perform stunts for crowd is cruelty’
“Though there has been clear direction, the forest authorities are not recording incidents of elephants running amok in the data book. Celebrity elephant Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran was paraded two weeks ago without fitness certificate and a person has sustained injuries after falling from the elephant’s back,” said Venkitachalam.
He said there have been incidents of elephant fans and vloggers bribing mahouts to make elephants perform stunts.
According to elephant lovers, there are only 360 captive elephants in Kerala, of which a majority are unavailable during the festival season due to musth and other health issues.
There are more than 1,000 temple festivals where elephants are paraded, and the fast shrinking number is putting the available 150 elephants under tremendous stress as they are forced to criss-cross the state to meet the demand. The hapless animals are made to stand for eight to 12 hours in the midst of a roaring crowd, blaring music, flashing laser lights, earsplitting fireworks and deafening percussion ensemble, they said.
Besides, there are festivals of churches and mosques, where elephants are in huge demand.
“There is no justification in forest officials remaining mute spectators when the festival organisers and elephant owners are violating the guidelines for elephant parade. Making elephants perform stunts in front of cheering crowd is cruelty. Excuses like lack of clarity in the guidelines cannot be justified,” said elephant expert Dr P S Easa.
“We are closely monitoring the festivals where elephants are paraded. Only elephants with the required certificates will be allowed to participate in festivals. We will initiate action against violations like blaring music and light shows at elephant parades,” said Palakkad assistant conservator of forests Suma Scaria.