India:  The Thrissur-based Heritage Animal Task Force has urged the government to cancel a reported move to parade large numbers of elephants during the ‘Kanana Sangamam 2015’ programme planned by the Forest Department in April in Thiruvananthapuram. Such parades inflict a high degree of torture and stress on the elephants during travel and the parade, V K Venkitachalam, secretary, Heritage Animal task Force, said in a letter to the Principal secretary, Forest Department. Besides, the parade, to consist of 70 to 100 jumbos, will be a violation of an earlier circular issued by the Principal Secretary, Forests, prohibiting the conduct of such parades, he said.

Copies of the letter have been sent to the Home and Forest ministers, the Chief Secretary and the DGP. Along with the letter, the Thrissur-based organisation has also attached a video of an elephant running amok at a temple in Thrissur. The mahout had been trampled to death in this incident. The decision to hold the parade was reportedly taken at a meeting convened by Forest Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan. ‘’We strictly oppose the action of the Forest Minister and his subordinates including Principal secretary, Forests, for their green signal for the conduct of such new elephant parades. Actually, the State Government had discontinued the wrong practice of parading more than 101 elephants under the banner of ‘Kerala Elephant March’ with effect from the year 2000,’’ the task force said in its letter to the government. Venkitachalam also drew attention to the incident in January 2000 when an attempt was made to march 108 elephants through Thodupuzha town. Eight of the jumbos had run amok and seven jumped into the nearby river. In the resultant melee, three people died and several others were left injured. Pointing out that elephants are very sensitive to their environment, Venkitachalam said that if the Forest Minister was bent on organising the parade, it should be arranged at the Kottoor elephant camp in Thiruvananthapuram district. ‘’But his idea of bringing more than 101 elephants from all the districts in Kerala to Thiruvananthapuram district is not congenial for the health and well-being of elephants, mahouts and the general public because of the inherent risk of threats to their lives,’’ Venkitachalam said. (Source : Indian Express)