KOCHI: The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has written to the Project Elephant division under the ministry of environment and forests seeking an investigation into the deaths of 23 captive elephants in Kerala this year. A copy has been marked to the state chief wildlife warden also.
The notice stated that the board had received a complaint on elephant deaths from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Idukki, which was based on a report published in the Times of India on November 4.
In the notice AWBI secretary S K Dutta has said that an enquiry be conducted into the deaths and necessary medical facilities and rehabilitation be provided to the sick elephants. He said that the matter should be treated as most urgent and the board be intimated on the action taken at the earliest.
TOI had reported that an Elephant welfare NGO Heritage Animal Task Force (HATF) had alleged that the state forest department has been turning a blind eye to the elephant deaths. The NGO wrote to the ministry stating that the veterinarians were doing experimental treatment on the animals.
"The district captive elephant monitoring committees are responsible for the welfare of these animals. This was stated very clearly by the Supreme court in its orders issued on 18/08/2015 and reiterated by the Kerala high court in its order on May 7, 2019 also," said M N Jayachandran, state member of AWBI. He said the responsibility falls not just on the district collector who is the chairman of the committee but also on the members as well.
The committee has to deal with any incident which leads to the death of a captive elephant or causes injury to it. Likewise, it is also responsible for any deaths or injuries caused by the elephants during a public event.
The apex court had in its orders directed the state chief wildlife warden to ensure that all captive elephants in the state have the requisite certificates and action should be taken against erring owners.
Jayachandran said that even the permissions granted by district collectors to parade the elephants in the recent festival events were in violation of the apex court rules. The permission should have been given by the committee and if any untoward incident happened, all members should be made liable, he added.
