Source: news.bbc.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM, March 2010: The southern state of Kerala is home to the largest captive elephant population in India. But many question the way the animals are treated. “Where in the world is the elephant worst treated? The honest and straight answer is Kerala,” says one of the state’s best-known writers, Paul Zacharia. Mr Zacharia is alluding to the plight of the state’s 700 captive elephants, the largest domesticated elephant population in India.
These elephants are owned by some 250 people and a number of temples. They are mainly rented out during the more than 10,000 festivals every year for parades and processions. The elephants are also hired by political parties for campaign processions, and by companies for promoting their goods in trade fairs.
The animals have to endure long and noisy parades where fire crackers are set off, they must stand close to flames, travel long distances in ramshackle open vehicles and walk on tarred roads in the scorching sun for hours. They also have to endure drunk, often brutal mahouts. One survey found that half of the keepers had a drinking problem. The upshot is a unusual and rising man-animal conflict in crowded cities and towns where the elephants go to work.
Wildlife authorities say 18 people, mainly mahouts, have been killed by captive elephants in the past five years – 12 of them in the past two years alone. Kerala’s Elephant Lovers’ Association, a group which has been campaigning to have “performances” by captive elephants banned, says officials are under-reporting the problem. According to figures compiled by the group from media reports and wildlife authorities, captive elephants have killed 212 people – the majority of them mahouts – in the past 12 years in Kerala.