The failure to
enforce rules and stressful use at temple events are forcing
elephants in Kerala to run amok.
Every
Summer, a tragedy unfolds in Kerala. Somewhere or the other, elephants
trained to participate in temple festivals turn on their trainers and
the religious congregation around them and stampede. Sometimes, they
kill people. On April 24, an elephant ran amok at a temple near the
coastal Thrissur city trampling an elderly woman to death and killing
two men, including a mahout (while its own sat atop terrified) who it
impaled on its tusk. By the time the elephant was brought to heel 90
minutes later, it had also destroyed portions of the temple. This is the
season of the Thrissur pooram festival when elephants are taken and form
part of processions to mark one of the most significant Hindu religious
festivals in Kerala. This incident occurred around noon when the
elephant was being taken out of the temple for a ceremonial procession.
Animal rights activists say the temple tragedy underlines the serious
flaws in the management of captive, or tamed, elephants in Kerala. Since
January, rampaging elephants have killed 18 people, including eight
mahouts, across Kerala. According to the Kerala Elephant Lovers'
Association, a group of passionate advocates for the beast, the
elephants' fury continues because of the failure of the government to
enforce the rules set out for the management of the captive elephants.
"How can civil society continue to ignore the failure to adhere to the
norms?" asks VK Venkitachalam, head of the association, who alleges that
the authorities at the temple where the elephant rampaged had not
complied with an order of the Kerala High Court specifying the do's and
don'ts for the use of elephants at such events. The court's order
included a restraint on the display of the captive elephants between 11
am and 3 pm as stipulated by the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
According to the government rules, organizers must begin providing the
forest department daily fitness certificates for the elephants from
three days before an event begins. But such certificates are submitted
in bulk only to get the requirement out of the way. Says Radha Krishnan,
an elephant lover: "Earlier, only kings and lords owned elephants. Now,
they are a necessity at temples, churches and mosques. With a steady
increase in number of festivals, the casualty also increases."
Many elephants are made to quickly cover many kilometers between temples
during the January-May festival season. "Elephant owners and trainers
are warned every year to care for their animals,'' says noted
environmentalist PK Uthaman. "But many elephants still have to endure
unhealthy living conditions and are underfed." Adds another expert, KC
Panicker: "The number of elephants participating in festivals is very
large, about 50 to 60. That has to be reduced. All elephants have to be
given a fitness certificate by a veterinary surgeon."
Last year, the Kerala government announced that committees will be set
up in each of the state's 14 districts to ensure that Captive Elephant
Management Rules were followed. Such committees were to include forest
officials and activists. But no committee has been set up in any
district even as elephants run crazy and kill people, and temples
continue to use elephants in their events.
"It not just their beauty but also the faith that the elephant
represents Lord Ganesha that makes the elephant crucial for our festival
events," says P. Chandrasekharan, who runs one of the city's temple
administrative bodies, the Thiruvambadi Devaswom. In most cases, long
working hours in sweltering heat and dehydration puts elephants under
extreme stress. "We cannot directly interfere with individual temple
administrative bodies," G. Sudakaran, who heads the ministry that
exclusively caters to the management of such temple bodies, said.
Admitting that it was cruelty that forced the beasts to the violence,
the minister adds: "We will try to bring in new legislation to stop the
use of elephants."
But a ban on the use of elephants in temples would be easily flouted in
festival-crazy Kerala. Elephant lovers as well as festival organizers
say that the need of the hour is a consensus that will bring down the
abuse of the animal. Pointing out that the elephant is Kerala's state
animal and that the state government's emblem also has two elephants in
it, government official KP Sreekumar says almost all festival events
have at least one richly caparisoned elephant.
Currently, some 700 elephants are in captivity across the state. About
260 are with the devaswoms, the temple bodies, while 440 are
individually owned. The largest private collection is 14 elephants.
Earlier, only the high-caste Namboodiris owned elephants. But elephant
ownership is now seen as symbolic of wealth and prestige. Kerala Forest
Minister Binoy Viswam had last year said that all elephants will be
'retired' at the age of 65 years. But no follow-up action has been
taken. His other elephant-friendly initiatives such as fixed work hours
and safe transportation for the elephants also remain on paper.
"The Kerala Elephant Owners' Association would welcome scientific
initiatives on the part of the government to avoid tragedies. We have to
compile a proper set of rules to decide what needs to be done when
elephants run amok," says the association's representative P. Sasi
Kumar.
In Kerala, elephants rarely breed in captivity. Capturing them from the
forests is banned. They are now being bought from Bihar, West Bengal and
the Northeast.
The cost of each calf varies from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. The journey
to Kerala lasts up to 15 days. Once trained, elephants are rented at the
rate of Rs 15,000 for a three-hour programme. Such events invariably
begin around noon and the elephants are made to stand in the sun and
denied water for long periods. "There is a misconception that elephants
fan their ears and dance because they appreciate the music," says EK
Easwaran, an elephant expert. "Actually, elephants fan their ears to
cool their bodies and dance on their feet to get away from the hot tar."
After a long strenuous walk in the hot sun, when the animals are hungry
and thirsty, their mahouts feed them and take them to water. But instead
of bringing them much relief, this actually clogs their intestines, says
Easwaran.
Elephants, he says, can never be completely domesticated and always
desire to return to the wild. A mahout puts the elephant under stress by
hitting it when it disobeys commands. "Captive elephants are always made
to work even when there is no work,'' says Easwaran. Clearly, man or
beast, there is only so much repression that a living being can take, as
the rampaging elephant showed at Thrissur.
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Every
Summer, a tragedy unfolds in Kerala. Somewhere or the other, elephants
trained to participate in temple festivals turn on their trainers and
the religious congregation around them and stampede. Sometimes, they
kill people. On April 24, an elephant ran amok at a temple near the
coastal Thrissur city trampling an elderly woman to death and killing
two men, including a mahout (while its own sat atop terrified) who it
impaled on its tusk. By the time the elephant was brought to heel 90
minutes later, it had also destroyed portions of the temple. This is the
season of the Thrissur pooram festival when elephants are taken and form
part of processions to mark one of the most significant Hindu religious
festivals in Kerala. This incident occurred around noon when the
elephant was being taken out of the temple for a ceremonial procession.