KOCHI: Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K Mani MP on Tuesday approached the Kerala High Court seeking to implead in the case in which the court restrained the forest department from tranquillising and capturing the wild elephant Arikomban till March 29.
The court had issued the order on the petition filed by the People for Animals, Trivandrum chapter against the order of the chief wildlife warden to tranquillise and capture the elephant and to keep the animal in captivity.
According to Jose K Mani, wildlife attacks have assumed alarming proportions in the state. As many as 1,233 people have been killed in such attacks in the last decade alone.
Wild elephants alone killed 105 people in Kerala between 2018 and 2022. Chief wildlife warden of a state has the power to take measures to address human-animal conflict, including the grant of permission for hunting of animals that have become dangerous to human life or property, he said.
He was not against the interests of wildlife. The law protects animals. However, the law did not provide any protection to any person who kills a wild animal for his self-defence and for protecting his family, he said. The court will consider the case on Wednesday.