Captive elephants will get food kits, free of cost, during the lockdown period. As many as 255 captive elephants are expected to get the ration kit during the period.
Each kit will contain rice, pulses, green fodder and palm fronds. Going by the data available with the State Forest Department, there are 494 captive elephants in the State.
For 40 days
The jumbo ration kit will be dropped on the doorstep of the elephant owners. Each animal will be allotted foodgrain and fodder worth ₹400 a day and the free ration package will be for 40 days.
The government has earmarked ₹16,000 for every elephant. The Department of Animal Husbandry (DAH) has been assigned the responsibility of providing the food kits.
The Forest Department has drawn up a list of elephants, whose keepers are finding it difficult to feed them during the pandemic.
The government has decided to provide food for various domestic animals, including captive elephants.
List of elephants
The list of elephants, which was drawn up in consultation with the two associations of the elephant owners, was handed over to the DAH the other day, said Surendrakumar, Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala.
The feeding of an animal, said P. Sasikumar, president, Kerala Elephant Owners Federation, would cost its owners around ₹3,500 a day.
The menu included rice and flattened rice weighing 5kg each, 2 kg green gram, 25 palm fronds and green fodder weighing around 400 kg. Some owners also fed the pachyderms plantains, he said. Most of the revenue from elephants is earned during the five-month-long temple festival season which starts in December.
It is estimated that an elephant would be paraded at least 75 festival days during the season, thus covering the investment made on it besides earning a profit for its owner.
Huge loss
This year, the cancellation of social gatherings and temple festivals had resulted in elephant owners suffering huge loss, said G. Krishnaprasad, president of the Elephant Owners Association.
The State government had earlier earmarked ₹5 crore for feeding the animals. The elephants would be fed using the funds released for animal welfare.