Heritage Animal Task Force, a voluntary body focusing on animal welfare, has said that 26 captive elephants died in 2016 due to torture and neglect by their custodians. The organisation has urged the authorities concerned to take action against erring custodians.
In a petition sent to the Director of Project Elephant under the Ministry of Environment and Forests and other authorities, V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary, Heritage Task Force, said 22 of the elephants that died last year were suffering from foot disease, arthritis, and tuberculosis.
The first death of an elephant in captivity on New Year day occurred at a temple at Mararikkulam in Alappuzha, he said. The elephant, named Umadevi, aged 53, was reportedly suffering from various diseases.
As many as 427 elephants are kept by various temples and individuals in Kerala, without statutory ownership certificates. Of these, 349 are male elephants, 74 are female, and four are males without ‘tusks.’
All the elephants are kept in chains and many of them have no shelter to protect them from rain and scorching sunlight.
As per elephant preservation rules, it is the legal responsibility of the custodians to keep the elephant in sheds. When the elephants are kept in chains without shelter, the legs get infected with urine and dung. Constant chaining of elephants under the sun causes damage to health and such elephants suffer from various pulmonary and arthritic diseases, the letter said. He alleged that the veterinarians who treated elephants in Kerala were not following proper diagnosis. The elephant, Umadevi, was forced to participate in festival parades of many temples in various districts without any rest. Mr. Venkitachalam demanded that a post-mortem of the carcass be conducted by doctors other than veterinary surgeons of Kerala Forest Department. He alleged that there had been several instances of hiding of details of actual causes of death in the past.
