PIL in Kerala HC Claims Captive Elephants in State Illegally Captured, Seeks Their Release

Kochi: A PIL (public interest litigation) filed in the Kerala High Court has claimed that elephants in captivity across the state have been illegally captured and is seeking a ban on the training, trading, parading and possession of the animals. The PIL, filed by animal rights activist Angels Nair, also urges the court to direct the relevant authorities to release the captive elephants into the wild in accordance with guidelines issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Central Zoo Authority of India. 

Furthermore, the petitioner has also called on the court to order a probe by the CBI or any other relevant external agency into the illegal trading, training, transportation and possession of captive elephants. 

The plea also seeks the quashing of the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024 framed by the central government.

Nair has claimed that it has always been illegal to capture wild elephants for private use but noted that there was no law in place prohibiting the same prior to 1977. It was in that year that elephants were added to schedule-1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, making it illegal to capture or tame them. 

With this context in mind, Nair has claimed that 54 per cent of elephants in captivity across Kerala were born after 1977, making their capture and taming illegal. 

This does not include elephants in rehabilitation centres, hospitals and zoos, the plea said.

He has alleged that captive elephants suffer horrendous torture by their owners who often deprive them of food and water as part of the training process.

Citing figures he claimed to have received under the Right to Information Act, Nair has contended that the captive elephant population in Kerala in December 2010 was 702 and this number came down by 41 per cent to 410 in December 2023.

As of February 22, 2024, there are 396 captive elephants, he said.

Nair has alleged that of the 134 elephants that died in the state since 2018, only the deaths of three were due to old age.

The rest of them died due to "ill-treatment, overwork and merciless torture", he claimed in his plea which is likely to be listed for hearing in the high court next week.

The petition also accuses the Forest Department of turning a blind eye to such infractions and colluding with the "elephant mafia" in some cases.

It said that elephants being tortured and paraded would invite "worldwide shame and disgrace" from the international community and is "unethical for an advanced civilised nation". 

With inputs from PTI.