A report submitted by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) on Tuesday in the Supreme Court detailed the physical and mental torture that elephants were subjected to in the recently-concluded Thrissur Pooram and revealed that both the State government and the festival organisers had violated almost every rule in the book.
The report has opened a Pandora's box on the legality of one of Kerala’s largest tourist attractions and oldest temple festival by bringing it under the scrutiny of the apex court.
A Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra asked the Kerala government to respond on how laws were flouted to abuse these captive elephants during the festival held in the last week of April 2015. The Centre has also been issued notice by the court on the continued violation of both Central and State laws by private owners and mahouts.
The report is the result of a two-day (April 29-30) physical examination of the elephants on the Thrissur Pooram grounds by Ashish Sutar of AWBI, Rakesh Chittora, veterinary trainer with Animal Rahat, and Sunil Hawaldar, Honorary Animal Welfare Officer with the AWBI. For one, the report said the Pooram organisers did not have the mandatory permission to exhibit or use the elephants in their performance. Secondly, it accused the Kerala State Animal Husbandry Department of turning a blind eye, or conniving with the organisers in the abuse of the elephants.
It said out of 84 elephants presented, the veterinarians of the department gave fitness to 79. But there is no written record of their physical or mental status or no individual health certificate of the animals.
Many elephants declared fit by the department, “suffered from very poor body condition, painful abscesses, infected wounds and bruises, partial vision loss, mutilated tail and foot diseases”.
In fact, some of the elephants demonstrated signs of severe mental suffering and psychological illness like “stereotypic repetitive behaviour of swaying”.
“Elephants were forced to stand for hours in hot and humid climate on their own urine and faeces without any protection from the sun and were denied free access to sufficient feed and drinking water,” the report dated May 4 said.
