(IN) Elephant rehabilitation Kerala model

[Guest guest]

The following news report is a true account of what happens in an elephant

taming camp in Kerala.

After 'domesticating' the tusker the State Forest Department aims to give it

back to the Travancore Devaswom Board.

The tusker was taken care of by the State Forest Department when it was

brutally beaten and hacked by a mahout in the same temple.People from all

walks of life,the AWBI.,Ms.Maneka Gandhi etc.effectively intervened in the

matter to save the life of the tusker from the slavish life such animals

suffer in the whole state of Kerala.

We hoped and believed that the present Forest Minister Mr.Binoy Viswom

supposed to be a man showing compassion to elephants would order the

rehabilitation of the elephant in the elephant sanctuary at Kottoornear the

state capital.

The news that the " unruly elephant " that does not " obey " the mahouts will be

taught the proper lessons under the state regimentation and handed over to

the same Devaswom Board from where it was rescued is a great shock.

 

The number of captive elephants dead so far during this festival season due

to the strain,starvation,fatigue and ill treatment from its owners is 19.The

number of human deaths caused by the " domesticated " elephants during this

season is 17,apart from the finacial and other losses amounting to couple of

crore rupees or more.

 

Most of these elephants are smuggled into the state of Kerala through

illegal means and none of the so called owners possess the mandatory

Ownership or Performing Animal Registration Certifcates as strictly

stipulated in the Central Wildlife Protection Act1972, and Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals Act1960.The elephant lobby in Kerala is so powerful that

every year they somehow manages to force the state enforcement agencies to

look the other way while they slaughter-tap the fatigued elephants to fleece

the Rs.400 plus crore rupees from the different temples in Kerala.

The lobby has cultivated and nourished a strong and fiece group to support

and maintain its illegal activities in the state.Their poets,writers and

public figures wax eloquently on the majestic grandeur of the elephants

displayed during a temple festival.There is a show going on in " Kairali

T.V. " -owned by the ruling Communist Party- featuring these poor animals as

great mammoths that enjoy their standing still in the scorching sunlight

continuously for 7 or 8 hours,bearing a weight around 500 kilograms and all

four legs tightly chained so that they cannot move.The show, being sponsored

by the elephant owners of Kerala, has crossed hundreds of episodes and

gives an impression even to the children that elephants enjoy this sort of

treatment and captivity and all such activities are legal.

The elephant lobby has fan clubs for elephants to promote and popularise

their own elephants. A 'popular' elephant can bring in more than Rs.1,00,000

per day during the festival season in Kerala.

A myth has of late been created among the Keralites that elephants have a

divine role in the temple festivals. The idol of the deity of the temple

should be ceremoniously borne by a 'majestic' elephant and sometimes it

costs more than Rs.1,00,000 from the temple authorities to hire such a

tusker.Loud crackers are burst near these animals with percussion and

traditional musical instruments registering noise levels to ear-drum

blasting decibels.In big festivals like Thrissur, thick dust hover the heads

of the frenzied mob like a cloud accompanied by the great " music' and

cacophony.

The frightened elephants that stand amidst this scorching sun, dust and

deafening sounds can do nothing else than fan their big ears-the next day

we read it in the papers " the elephants enjoyed the show;because they were

gently fanning their ears.

During the Animal Welfare Fortnight-2009 we conducted a debate in a place

called Thodupuzha in Kerala inviting a cross section of the people connected

with elephants-elephant owners,temple authorities,tantriks,priests,and

experts on Hindu religious and temple rites.It was a very lively debate and

surprisingly at the end nobody could find any substantial evidence from the

holy Books or the customs that elephants are a " must " for temple

festivals.No othe temple except in the state of Kerala follow this inhuman

and barbaric practice of " elephant farming " for festivals.

I have once asked the Chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala (who hails from a

North Indian state) why he was so hesitant to proceed against elephant

smuggling and the cruelty shown towards the elephants.He replied that the

lobby behind this iwas very powerful and the Forest Department had no

facilities to look after the confiscated elephants.I again asked him, " Why

go after the elephants? Why can't you put one or two owners (who possess the

fake ownership certificates) behind the bars and clear the mess? " I got no

answer for that.

 

If the State Government of Kerala and the Forest and other enforcement

agencies under it cannot act who can save elephants like Kannan being sent

back to bondage again?

 

Taming=pain+fear+hunger+negation of all rights

 

 

 

*Taming Kannan not an easy job *

 

**

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

 

—Photo: Leju Kamal

 

*Taking his time: Kannan, a tusker attached to Sree Krishnaswamy Temple at

Aevoor in Alappuzha district, at the elephant kraal of the Forest Department

at Konni on Friday. *

 

PATHANAMTHITTA: Kannan is calm at the elephant camp of the Forest Department

at Konni. However, the efforts being made by mahouts at the camp for

domesticating this young tusker in the past six months appear to have

yielded little result.

 

The elephant attached to the Sree Krishna Temple at Aevoor in Alappuzha

district was shifted to the Konni elephant kraal on October 14, 2008,

following media reports on its torture by mahouts.

 

Two mahouts of the Travancore Devaswom Board, Kumaran and Pradeep, and a

former Forest Department employee, Sukumaran Nair, were posted as trainers

of Kannan. It was tethered at a modern shed at the camp for the next two

months. Though it remained calm and continued to take food and water

normally, later it was shifted to the wooden kraal as it failed to respond

to the training.

 

According to Pradeep, unlike other elephants undergoing training in

captivity, Kannan shows no sign of attachment to any of the mahouts or

trainers. Usually a wild elephant could be domesticated and familiarised

with the human environment in nine to 12 months, he said.

 

However, mahouts are hopeful of training Kannan in the next six months.

Veterinary doctors attached to both the Forest Department and the TDB have

been conducting periodic health check-up of the elephant.

 

Forest officials said Kannan would be handed over to the TDB only after

making it completely domesticated.

 

The TDB is supposed to bear the entire expenses and has already handed over

Rs.36,000 to the department, official sources said.

 

**

 

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