Thrissur: A Supreme Court bench hearing the petitions on the torture meted out to captive elephants has issued an interim order asking all chief wildlife wardens (CWW) of 16 states, including Kerala, to prepare ownership certificates (OC) for all captive elephants by December 31. A three-member bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur said in its order on Thursday that in case of elephants which do not have any ownership certificates, a provisional one needs to be issued by the CWWs by recording how the elephant reached the person who is in possession of the animal. “The SC order will lay the way for a complete register of nearly 400 captive elephants in Kerala. The Kerala CCW had earlier submitted an affidavit citing that there are nearly 280 elephants without OC in the state,” said Mr M.N. Jayachandran, secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Idukki. The illegal transfer of elephants between the owners by making an agreement on stamp paper would also stop, he added
