Mahout seriously injured in alleged elephant attack

Idukki: A mahout was seriously injured after he was allegedly attacked by an elephant at a safari centre at Attappallam near Kumily in Idukki on Saturday evening.

The injured has been identified as Rajiv of Thopramkudy. Soon after the attack he was rushed to the Medical College Hospital,Kottayam.

According to police sources, the owner of the elephant safari centre informed them that the mahout was injured in a road accident. “But our primary inquiry revealed that the mahout was injured in an elephant attack,” said a police source.

It was on January 14, 2017, that Bhaskaran (55), a native of Karnataka, was trampled to death by an elephant in the same elephant safari centre at Attappallam.

M N Jayachandran, member, Kerala state animal welfare board, said, “I have submitted a complaint to Idukki district collector and the chief wildlife warden, seeking immediate probe in to the issue. Many of these elephant ride centres are illegal. Many centres are not registered and do not have licence. These illegal centres are posing threat to the lives of both tourists and mahouts”.

“On March 13 I had submitted a complaint to Idukki district collector and chief wild life warden to mandate Animal Welfare Board of India registration for elephant ride centres. But I didn’t get any reply from the officials, added Jayachandran.

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