Forest dept. to relax regulations on parading captive elephants at festivals

The reconciliatory move comes after its circular irked temple bodies and elephant owners. Norms concerning the use of firecrackers within a 50-metre radius of captive elephants will be relaxed

With the Thrissur Pooram just around the corner, the Forest department seems to have bowed to pressure from temple committees and elephant owners to relax its regulations concerning the use of firecrackers within a 50-metre radius of captive elephants during festivals.

The move follows vehement criticism raised by various sections against a circular issued by the Chief Wildlife Warden on the maintenance of captive elephants chosen for parades during the ongoing festival season.

Besides the prohibition of firecrackers, percussion instruments and flambeaus within a distance of 50 metres from elephants, the circular had also mandated a 3-metre distance between people and elephants during parades. It also banned the use of capture belts and elephant goads, and outlined requirements for fitness certificates issued by panels of three veterinary doctors at least 12 hours before festivals.

While the government has already apprised the Kerala High Court of the rules, it is likely to file an affidavit on Monday to emphasise the need to relax the contentious norm on maintaining 50-m radius, official sources said.

Impractical, say protesters

Various groups, including the Kerala Elephant Owners Federation, Kerala Festival Coordination Committee and Ana Thozhilali Union (Elephant Workers’ Union) have threatened to abstain from parading elephants at festivals, alleging the rules were impractical.

Crying foul over the ban on the use of unauthorised elephant squads, the protesting groups stressed the need for voluntary groups to attend to exigencies and overcome the dearth of squads deployed by the Forest department. Besides, they believe the ban on using capture belts and goads could create hurdles in taming unruly elephants during events.

The turn of events has evoked a mixed response among elephant welfare campaigners. V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary of the Thrissur-based Heritage Animal Task Force, welcomed the prohibition of undesignated elephant squads and “torture tools” including the iron goads. He, however, criticised attempts to dilute restrictions on items such as firecrackers and flambeaus near paraded elephants.