PIL seeks end to taming of wild elephants

CHENNAI: A public interest litigation (

PIL

) has sought the Madras high court to restrain the Tamil Nadu forest department from capturing wild elephants and subjecting them to cruelty in violation of animal welfare laws, to tame them as kumkis (tamed elephants engaged to deter/capture wild elephants).

Claiming that this is a classic case of ‘legislator becomes the transgression’,

Elsa Foundation

, an animal welfare organisation which moved the PIL, said, “The entire process of taming is an utterly barbaric act and is in violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the Wild Life (Protection) Act. Such a cruel process of taming a wild elephant to make it a kumki is not contemplated by law. There is no law in the country that allows for such a barbaric act to be executed.”

The forest department has 51 wild elephants in captivity. Maintenance of each animal costs about Rs 1 to Rs 1.5 lakh per month. As the number of captive elephants grows, the department will not be able to manage these animals as the department has never attempted to re-create their natural habitat, said the petitioner.

The petitioner said, “We came across a news article published in an English daily dated April 23, which reported that a three-year-old elephant calf was captured from Athimathaiyanur near

Karamadai

in Coimbatore on April 16, and released into the forest at Topslip. The news item further reported that the said elephant was lodged in a wooden enclosure, and would be kept there for at least 10 days before a decision on taming it was taken.” The PIL wanted the court to restrain the authorities from trying to tame the calf, and to move it to a larger enclosure with sufficient space to move. The plea also wanted the court to allow a doctor of their choice to inspect the calf and file a report on the further course of treatment.

When the plea came up for hearing, the first bench of Chief Justice

Indira Banerjee

and Justice M Sundar asked the forest department to inform by Wednesday, whether it had any objections to medical examination of the calf as asked for by the petitioner.