(IN) Kerala; two more added to greedy elephant mafia's tally

[Guest guest]

The last paragraph of the news report should be an eye opener for all.

Writhing in pain and frenzied to extricate itself from the woodwork and

metal frame of the cabin of the lorry, the tusker has to break free its two

massive tusks which broke and fell into pieces on the road.

The bloody pieces are *divine* trophies at their homes picked and kept by

onlookers as the elephant belongs to Guruvayur temple.

 

 

Mahout killed, tusker hurt in freak mishap

 

Express News Service

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First Published : 02 Apr 2009 07:33:00 AM IST

Last Updated : 02 Apr 2009 12:34:03 PM IST

 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A mahout, Sukumara Kurup, 60, was killed and a tusker,

Ayyappan, 43, was seriously injured when both were thrown out of an

over-speeding mini lorry

and dragged them together for nearly 200 metres before the vehicle came to a

stop at Vamanapuram, near Venjarammoodu, here in the early hours of

Wednesday.

 

Sukumara Kurup got entangled in the ropes that tied the elephant and was

reportedly crushed under the elephant as both were dragged along the road.

 

Sukumara Kurup was dead by the time he was brought to the Medical College

Hospital here. The elephant was being transported from Anchal, where it was

taken for a temple procession, to Venjarammoodu. Ayyappan is owned by

Krishnan Potty, a resident of Venjarammoodu.

 

The driver and the cleaner of the mini-lorry are absconding. The driver is

suspected to have been drunk. The elephant was transported flouting rules.

 

Captive Elephants Management and Maintenance Rules specifically states that

trucks with a length of less than 12 feet should not be used to carry adult

elephants.

 

The rules also speak about maintaining a constant speed. ``While

transporting elephants by truck or train, care shall be taken to maintain

constant speed so that jerks and sudden stops are avoided and the effects of

shocks and jolts are reduced to the minimum,’’ the rule says.

 

At this point it is also not clear whether the owner has taken the

mandatory permission from the District Forest Officer for the

transport of the elephant as it involved movement from one district to the

other, from Kollam to Thiruvananthapuram.

 

Accidents involving elephants are turning out to be common on the roads of the

State. It is not even a week since tusker Gopalakrishnan, 40, was laid

to rest. The tusker was hit by a lorry on the National Highway near Kollam

on March 24.

 

*On March 29, a tusker named Kannan broke his tusks while being transported from

Guruvayur to Kannur. The incident occurred when the lorry in which Kannan was

taken had rammed into a the rear of a bus. The tusks of the elephant broke as it

pierced through the steel and wooden cabin. Kannan, a three-time winner of the

elephant race conducted yearly in Guruvayur, is now being treated at

Punnathurkotta.*