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Elephantine agonies
THE CHILLING sight of an elephant mauling the body of the mahout it had killed in a fit of fury, splashed across newspaper pages and in the visual media, has brought forth strong reactions from animal rights organisations. The Indian chapter of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has expressed concern over the manner in which domesticated elephants are being mistreated in the State.
PETA India's chief functionary, Anuradha Sawhney, has shot off a letter to the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, urging him to take immediate measures to stop using elephants for entertainment in the State.
PETA points out that wild animals by nature are unpredictable when placed in human situations. Attacks by domesticated elephants are not uncommon in Kerala and, in fact, there has been an increase in the number of such incidents.
Often, it is the mistreatment of these animals by trainers that makes them rebel, resulting in human tragedies. Trainers imprison elephants in chains, take them away from their families and place them in completely unnatural situations, fail to provide them with adequate food and water and treat them cruelly during training, PETA points out.
Domesticated elephants in Kerala, especially, have a miserable time, for they are made to work hard, used for religious rites during temple festivals and made to walk for days together on tarred roads in the hot sun.
Because of the animals' enormous size and strength, they are in constant confinement, in tightly pulled chains, which lead to painful sores and wounds on their legs. Tales of abused temple elephants and those with wounds that have been left untreated have always made good news copy. PETA points out that in the last decade, elephants in the country have killed at least 57 people and injured many more. In 1994, an elephant in the U.S. killed her trainer and injured 12 people, while running terrified through the streets, before being gunned down. A police officer had at the time commented, "I think the elephant was trying to tell us that God did not create them for human entertainment and other uses. But we have not been listening.'' PETA feels that the elephants in the State are trying to make a similar statement. It also points out that trainers severely beat the chained elephants and use implements like hooks to make them obey.
``In Kerala, these animals spend their lives in chains, except when they are made to work. In Nature, elephants are used to roaming over areas of more than 55,000 sq km. Thus confinement ranks among the cruellest punishment possible for an elephant,'' says PETA.
Adult elephants in Nature eat up to 225 kg of food and drink as much as 190 litres of water a day. But domesticated elephants in Kerala are almost always hungry and dehydrated.
``Sadly, domesticated elephants in Kerala receive hardly a fraction of the nutrition they need. This life of constant fear, hunger and thirst is what makes elephants go insane and makes them potentially dangerous,'' says PETA. The organisation has appealed to the Chief Minister to ban the use of elephants for entertainment, so that the lives of humans and elephants are protected.
By Maya C.
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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