Thrissur: As many as 11 captive elephants have died in the state since January 2018. The latest in the list is Sheshadri, 26, of Guruvayur Devaswom (GD) which fell into an open well after cutting loose from it mahouts at Sreekrishnapuram on Wednesday night after a temple fest. With the death of the elephant, the number of elephants owned by GD has come down from 64 during 2008-09 to 50 now. Sheshadri is the first elephant in the state to meet with such a pathetic death in the past 40 years. The elephant was touted as one of the healthiest among the GD elephants. It had a history of running amok during fests.
Last week, one of the star attractions of Thrissur Pooram, elephant Sivasunder of Thiruvambady Devaswom had died here after suffering from ‘erandakettu’ (compaction and indigestion) for 67 days. “The frequent deaths of captive elephants are mainly due to the blatant violation of rules meant for parading and managing such elephants. In Sreekrishnapuram, on Tuesday night, the rules were violated as the elephant was not kept on the temple premises where the festival was held for 12 hours after it was paraded as per Captive Elephants Management Rules,” V K Venkitachalam of Heritage Animal Task Force, a pro-animal organization said.
He alleged that no sanction was taken from the district administration for parading of elephants at the fest in Sreekrishnapuram. Palakkad Collector P Suresh Babu told DC that he was not sure about the official sanction given to the parading of elephants by the district administration and such details needed to be verified. The elephant was cremated at Walayar Forest by the Forest officials on Thursday afternoon.
