Saturday, January 28, 2017

Elephant Rampage at temple Latest Kerala

As the three-month-long temple festival season in Kerala draws to a close, it has witnessed a spike in incidents of elephants running amok. Since festivities began in mid-January, there have already been more than 100 instances of captive elephants being paraded going on the rampage, causing four casualties and injuring around 30 people.

The toll has been rising since 2000, with 49 casualties in 2012 and more than 350 people killed in the past decade.An elephant at a temple festival parade in Trichur. Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran, Asia’s second tallest captive elephant at 10.5 ft and the most prized at festivals, trampled three women to death at a temple in Perumbavoor in Ernakulam on January 27.

It had earlier been banned from festivals by the Kerala High Court for its aggressive behaviour and partial blindness. The only Indian captive elephant with its own Wikipedia page, Ramachandran-brought to the state from Bihar-has killed seven people and two elephants.
Another tusker that killed a girl on February 7 in Alappuzha was found to have been in musth (heat)-which is when a male becomes aggressive and is recommended a long rest.

“A lobby of brokers, elephant owners, temple committee members, revenue officers and vets is behind this exploitation,” says V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary of the Thrissur-based Heritage Animal Taskforce (HAT).

Please credit and share this article with others using this link: http://www.lightnepalvideo.com/videos/elephant-rampage-at-temple-latest-kerala/#sthash.ocOnJVpj.dpuf

No comments: