The Heritage Animal Task Force (HATF), a Thrissur-based non-governmental organisation of elephant lovers, has alleged criminal negligence on the part of officials attached to the departments of Forests, Police, and Animal Husbandry towards the parading of severely injured elephants as part of temple festivals in Pathanamthitta district.
In a letter to the Inspector General attached to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change who is also the Project Elephant Director, the HATF secretary, V.K. Venkitachalam, alleged that the cruelty against pachyderms was taking place with tacit support of the authorities concerned.
The photograph of a captive elephant, named Amballoor Sivan, produced before the IG shows the pachyderm as severely wounded in its sensitive part between the eye and the forehead.
Mr. Venkitachalam said this elephant was now being subjected to parading in a temple festival in Thiruvanvandoor in blatant violation of the existing rules. The mahouts put a gold-plated headgear that masks the severe wound on the elephant’s forehead, he alleged.
A video attached to the letter to the IG shows another limping elephant being paraded in a temple festival.
Mr. Venkitachalam said the elephant had been identified as the one which was smuggled into Kerala from Arunachal Pradesh four years ago. The Forest department had taken it into custody and kept it at the Konni Elephant Camp till 2015. However, the department had unlawfully handed over the elephant to one Omanakkuttan Pillai in Kollam, he alleged.
Mr. Venkitachalam said the elephant had no injuries at that time and the limping must have been caused due to torture by the mahouts, later. This ill-fated captive elephant having two fake names, Othara Kochayyappan and Vellimannu Kochayyappan, was being frequently used for parading in temple festivals by its custodian to earn money, he alleged.
Mr. Venkitachalam said the headquarters of the senior veterinary surgeon of the Kerala Forest department is in Pathanamthitta. Ironically, neither the District Elephant Monitoring Committee nor the District Elephant Task Force constituted as per the order of the MoEF&CC had failed to take any step to check such cruelty against the captive elephants in the district, he alleged.
