Forest Department cracks whip against jumbo owners

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court’s stern warning against cruelty to captive elephants seems to have goaded the Forest Department into action. The Department has issued two circulars on May 14 that, if properly enforced, could change the way captive elephants are treated in the state.

The first circular mandates that elephant owners should construct shelters for captive elephants under their care within three months. Besides cancellation of ownership rights, the circular has warned of huge fines on owners failing in their duty. The second circular bans the use of iron ‘ankush’ (thotti) by mahouts.

The circular comes a bit too late as it is based on the Rajasthan High Court ruling of 2010 that elephants should not be controlled using iron ‘ankush’. The state Department had been forced to act after the Inspector General of forests (Project Elephant) insisted that immediate action be taken to implement the order of the Rajasthan High Court.

It is said that more than 80 per cent of mahouts in the state use iron ‘ankush’ to control elephants. The circular states that wooden ankush can be used instead.

“Along with banning the use of iron ‘ankush’, the circular should also have prohibited pointed tips for ‘ankush’ or else it will not do much good,” said V K Venkitachalam of the Heritage Animal Task Force.

The lack of proper shelters has been a longstanding problem. A study conducted in 2012 by the Forest Department titled ‘Survey of the status of Captive elephants in Kerala’ had found that only 33 percent of captive elephants have proper housing.

Any owner failing to provide housing within the deadline of three months will be fined Rs 25,000. Any delay after that will be fined at the rate of Rs 500 for each day for the first 15 days, Rs 1000 per day for the next 15 days, Rs 2000 per day for the next 15 days and Rs 4000 per day for the next 15 days. After this, a case will be registered.