Stop keeping elephants in temples: Activists

Madurai: Animal rights activists have urged forest minister M Mathiventhan and HR&CE minister P K Sekarbabu to end the practice of keeping elephants in temples. The appeal follows the recent death of Subbulakshmi, temple elephant of Shri Shanmuganathar temple in Kundrakudi near Karaikudi in Sivaganga district.The 54-year-old elephant died a day after she suffered 30% burn injuries after her shed caught fire and collapsed on her on September 12. Subbulakshmi was gifted to the temple in 1971 and has been part of the temple rituals for five decades. In a petition, various animal rights organisations from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa urged the ministers to commit to a radical change in our relationship with elephants, allowing them to live in their natural habitat. They demanded a prosecution offence report and FIR on the death of Subbulakshmi and suspension of the entry of new captive temple elephants. Based on a recent Kerala high court order, Tamil Nadu should permanently disallow any increase in captive elephant population. The state should phase them out and rehabilitate the ones already present. The forest and HR&CE departments must commit to an urgent plan to phase out live elephants in temples, retire all existing elephants in natural facilities and move towards using robotic elephants or non-animal means, they said.The activists said robotic elephants are already used by numerous temples including Sree Krishna temple in Thrissur, Thrikkayil Mahadeva Temple in Kochi, Jagadguru Sri Veerasimhasana Mahasamsthana Math in Mysuru, Pournamikavu Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Shivan Temple in Gudalur, Yedeyur Sri Siddalingeshwara Swamy Temple and Peringottukara Devasthanam in Thrissur.However, elephant researcher N Sivaganesan, who had studied Subbulakshmi some years ago, said she was one of the well-maintained captive elephants in Tamil Nadu. "She scored first in all the parameters the expert committee studied," he said. "The focus should be on finding out how the fire happened," he added. He opposed phasing out temple elephants saying Tamil Nadu is one of the states where captive elephants are maintained the best. "The number of captive elephants in the state has steadily declined, and there are around 27 temple elephants maintained with all facilities," he added.Madurai: Animal rights activists have urged forest minister M Mathiventhan and HR&CE minister P K Sekarbabu to end the practice of keeping elephants in temples. The appeal follows the recent death of Subbulakshmi, temple elephant of Shri Shanmuganathar temple in Kundrakudi near Karaikudi in Sivaganga district.The 54-year-old elephant died a day after she suffered 30% burn injuries after her shed caught fire and collapsed on her on September 12. Subbulakshmi was gifted to the temple in 1971 and has been part of the temple rituals for five decades. In a petition, various animal rights organisations from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa urged the ministers to commit to a radical change in our relationship with elephants, allowing them to live in their natural habitat. They demanded a prosecution offence report and FIR on the death of Subbulakshmi and suspension of the entry of new captive temple elephants. Based on a recent Kerala high court order, Tamil Nadu should permanently disallow any increase in captive elephant population. The state should phase them out and rehabilitate the ones already present. The forest and HR&CE departments must commit to an urgent plan to phase out live elephants in temples, retire all existing elephants in natural facilities and move towards using robotic elephants or non-animal means, they said.The activists said robotic elephants are already used by numerous temples including Sree Krishna temple in Thrissur, Thrikkayil Mahadeva Temple in Kochi, Jagadguru Sri Veerasimhasana Mahasamsthana Math in Mysuru, Pournamikavu Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Shivan Temple in Gudalur, Yedeyur Sri Siddalingeshwara Swamy Temple and Peringottukara Devasthanam in Thrissur.However, elephant researcher N Sivaganesan, who had studied Subbulakshmi some years ago, said she was one of the well-maintained captive elephants in Tamil Nadu. "She scored first in all the parameters the expert committee studied," he said. "The focus should be on finding out how the fire happened," he added. He opposed phasing out temple elephants saying Tamil Nadu is one of the states where captive elephants are maintained the best. "The number of captive elephants in the state has steadily declined, and there are around 27 temple elephants maintained with all facilities," he added.