Kerala turns ‘unsafe’ for captive elephants

Ailments, torture, lack of care, and medical negligence are taking a toll on captive elephants, claim animal rights activists. The death of four animals in the past three weeks has taken the death toll of captive elephants to 14 this year.

The latest being Thripunithura Poornathrayeesan Narayanan, which died on Tuesday at Kokkarni Parambu, Thrissur, where elephants of the Cochin Devaswam Board (CDB) are tethered.

“It had no teeth and had been starving for the past 60 days. The elephant was tethered in dirty surroundings without veterinary care,” alleged V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary, Heritage Animal Task Force.

Another elephant, Periyanampetta Parameswaran, 38, died inside the Periyanampetta temple complex, near Ottappalam, two days ago. Though the elephant had injuries in its hind legs, it was forced to stand on granite floor, the task force complained in a letter to the Director of Project Elephant, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

Elephant Junior Achuthan, 28, of the Guruvayur Devaswom died on June 7 and Aranmula Parthasarathy, 48, of the Travancore Devaswom, died on June 22.

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