Wildlife chiefs crack down on abusers of captive elephants in India

Wildlife chiefs in the Indian state of Kerala have launched a crackdown on the way captive elephants are kept and treated after an outcry when The Independent exposed the intense cruelty inflicted upon them.

Heads of the state’s forest department are warning that anyone involved in cruelty to the animals will face “severe consequences” that may include having the elephant taken from them.

The alert is included in revised guidelines issued to elephant-owners and those involved in taking them to festivals, where they are shackled, beaten, ridden and prodded with sharp implements.

The animals – India’s icons – are painted and dressed in colourful decorations for parades and processions organised by religious temples, largely in the southern state of Kerala, where up to 500 are used this way.

Last month The Independent revealed how behind the glamour of the festivals, captive “temple” elephants are often tied to the spot by ropes or chains that eat into their skin; “trained” through being hit with metal rods or bullhooks; malnourished, overworked and deprived of medical care.

The new document admits “laxity” in implementing Kerala’s rules designed to protect the welfare of the animals.



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