Mahouts of Guruvayur Devaswom are using iron ankush (sharp pointed hook), a banned weapon, to control elephants at the Punnathur elephant camp, according to a report submitted to the Kerala High Court.
A Division Bench of the court had asked the Divisional Forest Officer (Flying Squad), Kochi, of the State Forest Department, to inquire into the use of ankush, in a case booked after a video of harassment of elephants at the Devaswom facility went viral.
A manager of the Devaswom informed the Forest official that mahouts at the camp used ankush with wooden handles and steel hooks to control elephants. The ankush is personally kept by each mahout, and a few of them were found were stored in the office. The manager, a Deputy Administrator, and a mahout too confirmed that all the ankushs in use at the camp were of the same make, and used uniformly during festival processions. The mahout said steel ankush replaced the iron ones, though both cause similar injuries to elephants when used in sensitive areas, according to the report.
The Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala, had banned the use of iron ankush for controlling captive elephants in Kerala since 2015.
The Devaswom official informed that the ankush used on an elephant, as seen in the video, was seized by the Range Forest Officer, Social Forestry Range, Thrissur.
Of the three elephants that were featured in the video, only Junior Kesavan possessed an ownership certificate. Gajendran and Krishna, the two others, lacked the certificates, the official reported to the court.
