Man-made miseries of elephants reached unimaginable levels in Kerala as the festival season peaked and with the atmospheric temperature climbing up rapidly by each passing day heralding the approach of a fiercely hot summer.
A total of about 300 incidents of elephants running amok have been reported in the State till date this year mostly due to unscientific handling of the pachyderms for Ezhunnallippu at temples and parading at other programmes like inauguration of commercial establishments in violation of all norms prescribed for protection of the animal.
As per the statistics available with the State Forest and Wild life Department, there had been 293 incidents of elephants going berserk mainly due to their unscientific handling. As many as 60 jumbos had caused panic and extensive damages to property in the past two months.
A total of nine people had lost their lives this year in incidents related to elephants running amok and three of the victims were mahouts. Six elephants died in accidents, as per the official figures. As many as 20 persons had to be hospitalized with injuries suffered in incidents of jumbos going berserk since the start of the year.
Statistics for Year 2013 show that a total of 20 people - 14 of them mahouts - had been killed in incidents of elephants running amok. A total of 44 elephants had died in various accidents in the State last year and 36 of them were captive elephants. Kerala is said to have over 750 captive elephants but the population is reportedly shrinking rapidly.
“A rough look at such figures for the past ten years will reveal that such incidents are on a steady rise despite official claims of putting more and more curbs on use of tuskers for festivals,” says elephant-lover Parameswaran Nair of Kochi. “This is happening mainly because of the unholy links between profit-hungry jumbo owners and corrupt officials,” he alleges.
Experts in the field of conservation and jumbo-care say that the main reason for such tragic incidents is the refusal by mahouts and elephant owners to provide proper food and rest to the pachyderms. Added to this is the torture the elephants suffer in the hands of the mahouts who are forced to take the animal from one festival ground to another without break.
Nair points out that it is not the lack of rules which are leading to these “elephantine tragedies”. “The rule is that no elephant should be used for temple festivals for more than eight hours a day and they should not be paraded in Ezhunnallippu for more than six hours. Being a keen watcher of the scene, I can say this never happens,” he said.
As per the regulations drawn up jointly by Forest officials, temple committees and elephant owners’ associations, jumbos are not to be paraded for festivals between 11.00 am and 3.30 pm when the atmospheric heat in summer days is unbearable. likewise, elephants being paraded for a long time during daytime should not be used for Ezhunnallippu in the night.
“But everyone in Kerala knows that temple festivals are impossible if this norm is adhered to strictly,” says Ramanathan Iyer, an elephant-lover from Thrissur.