Animal rights activists have accused the Animal Husbandry Department of issuing fitness certificate to a blind and sick elephant for parading it at a temple festival at Kozhinjanpara, near here, on Tuesday evening that ran amok around 10 p.m. killing two persons.
The elephant Chethallur Muraleekrishnan had killed three persons earlier. With the latest incident, the number of people killed by elephants paraded illegally in festivals in the State since January rose to 10.
The Thrissur-based Heritage Animal Task Force secretary V.K. Venkatachalam told The Hindu the department violated the guidelines issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) for issuing fitness certificates.
He has taken up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the chairman of the AWBI. “More than two dozen people were injured and the total loss caused by the elephant comes around Rs.75 lakh. It was the Animal Husbandry Department which issued the fitness certificate,” Mr. Venkatachalam said.
In musth
“The elephant was blind and in musth. There were no registration certificate and permission from the AWBI for parading it as per the provisions of the Performing Animals (Registration) Rule 2001,” he said.
“Officials of the Animal Husbandry Department have no authority to grant fitness certificate to an animal for parading it in the public sans the registration certificate and permission from the AWBI. The issuing of certificate is a clear violation of the Performing Animals (Registration) Rule 2001,’’ Mr. Venkatachalam said.
S. Guruvayurappan, project officer of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, said the elephant in question was continuously abused for parading for the past eight days without rest. Mr. Guruvayurappan sought the intervention of the AWBI on the issue.
The AWBI had on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court about the physical and mental torture that elephants were subjected to at the recently concluded Thrissur Pooram and revealed that both the State government and festival organisers had violated almost every rule in the book.
Rights activists blame Animal Husbandry Department
Intervention of AWBI sought
