Inspection team reports ill treatment of elephants at Thrissur Pooram

Delhi: Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) filed the inspection report on this year's Thrissur Pooram festival in the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday citing ill-treatment of elephants.

The findings of the inspection done during Pooram on April 17 and 18 include the use of elephants suffering from wounds that were deliberately hidden with black material, elephants suffering from impaired vision and cracked nails, and the use of banned torture devices such as ankuses.

The elephants were found to be chained by all four legs and forced to stand for many hours, with no protection from the hot sun, and they were not given sufficient drinking water. Out of the 67 elephants paraded, 31 were found to be apparently illegal because of their custodians' lack of a valid ownership certificate, which is mandatory as per the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972.

The reports say that since the elephants used were suffering from various ailments, the fitness certificate issued by a team that included officials from the Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department and veterinarians from Kerala's Animal Husbandry Department is apparently illegitimate. The report, which includes photographs and videos, states that the elephants were subjected to cruelty in apparent violation of the orders of the Supreme Court, the Kerala High Court and various animal-protection laws.

The AWBI inspection team included a veterinarian and other animal welfare experts from Animal Rahat, a sister organisation of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India; Idukki Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; and PAWS Thrissur, whose staff are also Honorary Animal Welfare Officers of the AWBI.

PETA said in a press release that the AWBI-authorised inspection team had been denied permission to inspect the elephants in the fitness-check camp on April 16. However, the team had managed to inspect the elephants during the parade.

The report asks that the state government repeat the health examination of all 67 elephants and calls for necessary action based on their fitness and legitimacy of ownership as per the law. The report also lists the reasons justifying the need for registering the elephants with the AWBI under the Performing Animals (Registration) Rules, 2001, instead of with the district committee of Thrissur. Mr. M. N. Jayachandran, the AWBI nominee to the district committee and also a member of the AWBI inspection team, has officially lodged a complaint with the state government calling for disciplinary action against the erring officials for denying AWBI inspectors access to the fitness camp on April 16, PETA said.