We are losing elephants at an alarming rate; it’s our duty to take steps to protect them
Three fresh reports from Kerala and Assam about elephant deaths have hit animal lovers like lightning. Unless the Union Forest Ministry takes urgent steps, it is feared that tuskers in the forests of Kerala and Assam would disappear altogether in near future. The Heritage Animal Task Force (HATF), an NGO in Kerala, reveals that 70 elephants have died there in captivity in the last three years. VK Venkitachalam, who heads the NGO, has drawn the Ministry’s attention to the “alarming rate” of elephant killing. What’s shocking is that these ‘domesticated’ jumbos are subjected to experimental treatment, a trial and error method, by veterinarians without experience or skills. Of the 521 captive elephants in Kerala, 13 belong to the Forest Department while the rest are owned by individuals as having an elephant is considered a status symbol in the State. Quite unknown to the outside world, these animals are exploited by their owners for money by making them work hard in timber yards and mills. Wildlife experts advise that each pachyderm should have 1.75 acres for exclusive use, they should be kept at suitable distance from one another and moved without delay to a clean area from the spot where they urinate/defecate lest they get infected with deadly bacteria.
The reality, however, is such that the Lord Krishna Temple in Guruvayur houses 45 elephants on just 1.5 acres of land! The Forest Department, in its latest report, stated that 20 wild elephants were killed between 2002 and 2020 within Kerala’s borders after being rammed by trains. They generally fall prey to the locomotives while crossing the tracks in search of food and water as the rails run through reserve forests. The only viable option to save wild elephants is to lay the tracks through tunnels or have an over-bridge which is inaccessible to them. In Assam, 21 wild elephants died of electrocution in the last 12 months. The State Forest Department disclosed that 113 elephants were electrocuted between 2009 and 2020. Instead of merely criticising such incidents, the Governments must draw up an urgent action plan to protect the innocent animals; it is us who have intruded upon their natural habitat. They are not trained to detect danger in the form of bacteria, nature or human beings; then only we can take pride in the phrase ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’.