A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has directed the Chief Wildlife Warden to conduct a local inspection at the Thiruvambady temple in Thrissur to verify the health of elephants under the temple and file a report. The directive came on a writ petition filed by the Thrissur-based NGO Heritage Animal Task Force.
The court also ordered that medical help be provided if need be. The petitioner had highlighted the ill treatment meted out to the elephants of the temple. One of the elephants had become blind after a mahout ill treated the animal.
In a report, the Animal Welfare Board of India had suggested that the Thiruvambady Devaswom address the careless handling of elephants by the mahouts.
Welfare of captive elephants could be ensured through capacity building of stakeholders in a participatory way.
The report also said that captive elephants housed in institutionalised centres, temples/ devaswom boards, and in private and government ownership suffered badly from negligence.
Enforcement and awareness on law, adequate training, and counselling and motivation of mahouts and the stakeholders, which includes temple management, private owners and Forest Department, were essential for animal welfare, which alone could ensure physical and mental welfare of the elephants. It also recommended that use of sharp sticks may be discouraged as the elephant showed much distress seeing the stick in the hands of mahouts.
Eye injury
As for the treatment of the left eye of elephant Lakshmi, the report said the elephant was in agony because of the injury on the left eye and chronic irritation from the current combination of traditional medicine used as eye drops. The present mixed treatment regimen using traditional eye drops along with allopathic medicines was questionable. A detailed ophthalmic examination and a proper treatment regimen with effective specific medications were needed for the elephant.
